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His  Holiness 


Leo  XIII. 


Born  at  Carpineto,  March  2,  1810;  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Damietta,  Feb.  19, 1843;  transferred  to  the  See  of  Perugia,  Jan.  19,  1846; 
proclaimed  Cardinal,  Dec.  19,  1863;  elected  Pope,  Feb.  20,  and  crowned  May  3, 1878. 


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M^  Z)eDJCAT]oN  of  ,^UNlV6RsnY. 


WiLLIAM-H  JiUGHES-  pufati^er, 
«•**  DeteoiT’  Mich*  i/-<jj  -A*®  * r-  - 

(CopynohE) 


Price,  Postpaid,  $2.50. 


Inqprirriatiir, 


* JOANNES  FOLEY, 

Ep.  Detroitepsis. 


December  16,  1889. 


> 


BOSTON  college  librakt 


453346 


m -2  1971 


Copyright,  1889,  by  WILLIAM  H.  HUGHES. 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED, 


DEDICATION. 


This  Souvenir  Volilrrie  is  respectfully  dedicated  to  His  Erriirierice,  JAMES,  CARDINAL  GIBBONS, 
Archbishop  of  Baltirpore,  and  the  Catholic  Hierarchy,  Clergy  and 

Laity  of  the  United  States, 

BY 

WILLIAM  H.  HUGHES, 


November,  1889. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Introduction 

Bull  Instituting  See  of  Baltimore 

Cardinal  Gibbons’  Letter  to  Leo  XIII,  and  the  Pope’s  Reply 

Pastoral  Letter  of  Cardinal  Gibbons 

Call  for  a Congress 

The  Centenary  Celebration 

Archbishop  Ryan’s  Sermon 

The  Evening  Service 

Archbishop  Ireland’s  Sermon 

The  Catholic  Congress 

First  Day 

Chairman’s  Address 

Daniel  Dougherty’s  Speech 

Speech  of  Rev.  J.  Nugent 

Speech  of  Francis  Keman 

Address  of  Cardinal  Gibbons 

Catholic  Congresses,  by  John  G.  Shea 

Lay  Action  in  the  Church,  by  H.  F.  Brownson 

Independence  of  the  Holy  See,  by  C.  J.  Bonaparte 

Second  Day 

Carroll  as  a Statesman,  by  H.  Mercier 

New  Social  Order,  by  P.  L.  Foy 

Education,  by  E.  F.  Dunne 

Catholic  Press,  by  G.  D.  Wolff 

Mr.  McGloin’s  Paper 

Milton  E.  Smith’s  Address 

Mr.  Kelly’s  Paper 

Societies,  by  H.  J.  Spaunhorst 

Memorial  of  Catholic  Y.  M.  Societies 

Young  Men’s  Societies,  by  E.  McGannon 

Resolutions 

Catholic  American  Literature,  by  C.  B.  Pallen 

Temperance,  by  J.  H.  Campbell 

Sunday  Observance,  by  Manly  Tello 

Labor  and  Capital,  by  Wm.  Richards 

What  Catholics  have  Done  in  the  Last  100  Years,  by  R.  H.  Clarke.. 

Church  Music,  by  Heman  Allen 

Archbishop  Ireland’s  Address 

List  of  Delegates 


PAGE 

v 

x 

xiii 

xiv 
xvii 

1 

4 

12 

13 

19 

20 
20 

23 

24 
24 

24 

25 
27 
30 
32 
32 
36 
43 
47 
52 

54 

55 
58 
60 
61 
62 
64 
67 
69 
71 
75 
79 
82 
83 


Dedication  of  the  Catholic  University 85 

Bishop  Gilmour’s  Sermon 85 

Father  Fidelis’s  Sermon 88 

The  Banquet 90 

Response  of  Archbishop  Satolli 90 

Response  of  Mr.  Blaine 90 

Response  of  Archbishop  Ryan 91 

From  the  Heights,  by  J.  Boyle  O’Reilly 92 

Address  of  English  and  Irish  Catholics 93 

Address  of  St.  Cuthbert's  College 93 

Address  of  St.  Bede’s  College 94 

Opening  of  the  University 94 

Bishop  O’Farrell’s  Oration 94 

Dr.  Schroeder’s  Oration 96 

The  Associated  Press 98 

The  Baltimore  Festivities 99 

Dinner  at  St.  Mary’s  Seminary 99 

Letter  of  Cardinal  Manning 100 

Letter  from  English  Bishops 100 

Address  of  Irish  Bishops 100 

Reception  at  Concordia  Opera  House 101 

Speech  of  Mr.  Morris 102 

Speech  of  Mr.  Roberts 103 

Reply  of  Archbishop  Elder 104 

The  Torch-light  Parade 106 

Baltimore  Day 110 

The  Mayor’s  Reception 110 

Other  Entertainments Ill 

Dinner  to  Detroit  Delegates Ill 

Major  Hill’s  Dinner Ill 

Catholic  Editors’  Association Ill 

Brownson  Memorial  Committee Ill 

Jesuit  Alumni Ill 

At  Woodstock  College Ill 

Ramus  Olivae 112 

From  Seed-time  to  Harvests 112 

Considerationes,  Patris  Frischbier 113 

Carmen  Saeculare,  Ejusdem 114 

Sonnet,  by  Archbishop  O’Brien 114 


LIST  OK  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Pope  Leo  XIII Frontispiece 

Cathedral  of  Baltimore ix 

Pius  VI xi 

Archbishop  Carroll xv 

Georgetown  College  in  1789 xvi 

Bishops  of  Baltimore  Province xviii 

Cardinal  Taschereau 1 

Bishop  Virtue 2 

Bishops  of  New  Orleans  Province 3 

Mgr.  Gadd 4 

Bishops  of  New  York  Province 5 

Bishops  of  Boston  Province 7 

Bishops  of  Philadelphia  Province 9 

Bishops  of  Cincinnati  Province 11 

St.  Patrick’s  Cathedral,  New  York 14 

Bishops  of  St.  Louis  Province 15 


PAGE 

Committees  of  Catholic  Congress 21 

John  Lee  Carroll,  Daniel  Dougherty,  Father  Nugent,  Honore  Mercier, 

Wm.  L.  Kelly 33 

Writers  of  Papers,  Catholic  Congress 53 

Divinity  Building,  Washington  University 86 

Bishop  Keane 87 

Bishops  of  Oregon  Province 89 

Bishops  of  Chicago  Province 91 

Bishops  of  Milwaukee  Province 93 

Bishop  Conroy,  Mgr.  O’Connell,  Father  Sorin,  Father  Stephan,  Doctor 

Allen 95 

Chiefs  Joseph  and  White  Bird 101 

Archbishop  Salpointe  and  Bishop  Matz 103 

Bishops  of  St.  Paul  Province 105 

Bishops  of  San  Francisco  Province 107 

Mitred  Abbots 109 


INTRODUCTION. 

BY 

HENRY  F.  BROWNSON  LL.D. 


The  year  ot  grace,  1889,  will  be  forever  memorable  in  the 
annals  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States.  Simultaneously 
with  the  celebration  of  the  close  of  the  first  century  since  the  establish- 
ment of  the  American  hierarchy,  was  held  the  first  Catholic  congress 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  following  day,  the  theological  depart- 
ment of  the  Catholic  University  was  dedicated  and  opened  to  stu- 
dents. 

But  a few  months  previously  was  celebrated  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  inauguration  of  the  first  president  of  the  United 
States.  The  religious  centennial  celebration  following  so  closely  on 
the  national,  should  make  us  reflect  how  closely  our  religion  and 
our  country  are  united  in  the  date  of  their  establishment  in  this  land, 
as  regularly  organized  institutions  of  divine  and  human  govern- 
ment, and  make  us  hope  that  they  may  proceed  hand  in  hand  till 
the  final  consummation  of  all  things. 

Well  might  1889  be  known  in  our  history  as  the  “secular 
year,’’ — a year  for  rejoicing  over  the  past,  and  a starting-point  for 
a century  of  renewed  exertion  and  of  still  brighter  results. 

One  hundred  years  ago,  the  American  colonies,  feeble  indeed, 
but  resolute,  had  successfully  asserted  their  independence  of  the 
most  powerful  nation  in  the  world,  and  become  the  United  States  of 
America.  True,  they  were  aided  in  their  struggle  for  freedom  by 
the  Catholic  nations  of  western  Europe;  but  the  aid  rendered  did 
not  affect  the  issue  of  the  contest,  it  only  hastened  the  result.  The 
final  outcome  was  assured  when  the  delegates  of  the  colonies  declared 
their  determination  to  be  free,  and  pledged  thereto  their  lives,  their 
fortunes,  and  their  honor.  That  pledge  with  them  was  sacred,  and 
they  could  no  more  have  submitted  to  their  oppressors  than  the 
little  band  of  Goths  under  King  Pelagius  who  fled  from  the  Moors 
into  the  mountains  of  the  Asturias,  and  carried  on  the  war  for  the 
liberty  and  independence  of  their  country,  until  they  finally  rescued 
the  last  town  from  the  invaders,  after  nearly  800  years  of  almost 
unceasing  conflict.  Like  the  Goths  of  Spain,  our  revolutionary 
ancestors  were  not  bom  to  submit  to  oppression. 

When  the  nation  they  had  labored  to  found,  and  the  constitu- 
tion they  had  drawn  up  with  consummate  wisdom,  were  inaugurated, 
with  Washington  as  the  first  president,  there  was  great  rejoicing 
and  high  hope  for  the  future.  But  who  then  dreamed  that  the  close 
of  the  first  century  of  our  national  government  would  have  beheld 
a united  people  of  60,000,000  or  more,  extending  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  and  from  the  bay  of  Fundy  and  the  straits  of  Fuca  to  the 
gulfs  of  Mexico  and  California  ? 

Much  more  marvelous  and  unexpected  has  been  the  growth  of 
the  church  in  the  same  period.  While  the  population  of  the  Union 
has  expanded  from  less  than  four  millions  to  upwards  of  sixty,  the 
Catholics  have  increased  from  about  one  hundred  thousand  to  ten  or 


twelve  millions.  The  wonderful  increase  in  numbers  is  due  in  both 
cases  to  foreign  immigration  rather  than  any  other  cause.  The 
population  acquired  with  the  territory  obtained  by  treaty  with  other 
nations  were  nominally  Catholic  for  the  most  part,  and  may  have 
swelled  the  forty  thousand  Catholics  in  the  thirteen  colonies  to 
about  one  hundred  thousand  souls. 

The  accessions  to  the  Catholic  Church  from  sectarianism  or  infi- 
delity have  been  more  important  on  account  of  their  character  than 
of  their  numbers,  though  even  in  point  of  numbers,  they  surpass 
any  reasonable  calculation  based  on  the  means  available  for  conver- 
sions. 

During  most  of  the  century  which  has  elapsed,  the  church  has 
had  “ no  comeliness  that  men  should  desire  her.’’  The  members, 
until  comparatively  a recent  period,  have  been  poor  and  little 
respected  by  their  neighbors,  except  in  a few  Catholic  districts.  For 
the  first  fifty  years,  they  were  so  far  from  seeking  accessions  from 
without,  that  they  seemed  only  too  happy  if  they  were  allowed 
to  exist  in  the  land,  and  practise  their  religion  in  an  inoffensive 
way. 

The  clergy  for  the  last  hundred  years  have  been  too  few  to 
attend  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  those  already  Catholic,  and  extensive 
movements  for  the  conversion  of  the  American  people  have  been 
necessarily  deferred  till  some  future  time.  That  this  time  is  now 
at  hand  is  indicated  by  every  sign,  and  not  the  least  significant  indi- 
cations of  it  are  the  interest  taken  by  the  laity  in  the  cause  of 
religion,  shown  by  their  assembling  in  a congress,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  a Catholic  university. 

The  time  is  now  propitious  for  a mission  to  the  American  peo- 
ple. They  are  everywhere  abandoning  all  trust  in  their  old  relig- 
ious systems,  and  falling  into  skepticism,  infidelity,  and  agnosticism; 
their  starving  souls  crying  for  the  bread  of  truth,  and  no  one  to 
break  it  to  them. 

It  seems  as  though  the  American  people  of  the  old  Protestant 
stock  were  the  only  individuals  in  the  land  who  have  never  been  in- 
vited to  the  wedding-feast  which  the  Great  King  prepared  for  his 
Son.  There  have  been  missions  to  the  aborigines;  to  the  negroes 
the  Gospel  will  soon  be  preached  by  men  specially  trained  for  that 
purpose;  and  there  have  b^gn  chaplains,  as  it  were,  to  the  Catholic 
colonists  and  their  offspring;  but  the  great  glory  of  the  church  in 
America  will  come  when  the  mission  is  opened  in  the  highways  and 
byways,  and  through  God’s  grace,  and  the  message  of  those  He 
sends,  the  great  multitudes  shall  be  gathered  in. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  this  is  destined  to  be  a Catholic 
land.  Catholics  planted  the  Cross,  claiming  it  for  Christ’s  heritage, 
at  every  extreme  of  its  territory.  It  has  been  fertilized  by  the  blood 
and  sweat  of  priests  along  the  Canadian  border,  at  its  southernmost 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


limit  in  Florida,  and  on  the  plains  of  New  Mexico,  and  both  slopes 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  first  priest  that  sailed  to  what  is  now  the  United  States, 
after  the  discovery  of  the  New  World  by  Columbus,  sailed  from 
Bristol  with  Cabot  in  1498,  and  the  first  sermon  preached  in  this 
country  was  in  the  English  language,  and  before  England  fell  away 
from  Christian  unity. 

The  next  priests  came  with  Ponce  de  Leon,  in  1 52 1 , to  minister  to 
the  intended  settlement  in  Florida,  and  to  labor  for  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians;  but  the  settlement  was  soon  abandoned  in  consequence 
of  attacks  by  the  savages. 

Five  years  later,  two  friars  of  the  order  of  Preachers  accompanied 
the  colony  of  Vasquez  de  Ay  lion,  established  at  or  near  where  James- 
town, in  Virginia,  was  afterwards  settled  by  the  English.  Ayllon 
died  soon  after  making  a settlement,  and  the  colonists  abandoned  the 
country. 

Eight  priests,  who  accompanied  De  Soto,  in  1538,  as  chaplains 
and  missionaries,  perished  on  our  soil  during  the  painful  march 
through  Florida,  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi,  across  the  great 
river  to  which  the  Spaniards  gave  the  name  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  1542,  the  Franciscan  Father,  Juan  de  Padilla,  who  had  set 
up  the  Cross  and  begun  a mission  to  the  Indians  in  New  Mexico,  fell 
pierced  bj7  their  arrows,  a victim  to  his  religious  zeal.  The  mission 
of  the  Franciscans  was  afterwards  re-established  in  New  Mexico, 
and  more  fathers  were  sacrificed  to  the  savage  hate  of  the  Indians, 
who  cried:  “The  devil  is  more  powerful  than  God  and  Mary.’’ 
Five  of  them  were  massacred  in  New  Mexico,  in  1696,  Antonio  Car- 
bonel,  Jose  de  Arbizu,  Francisco  Corvera,  Antonio  Moreno,  and 
Francisco  Casanas.  Fathers  Tello  and  Ruhen,  and  many  Catholic 
Indians  were  killed  by  the  pagans  in  1751,  and  several  missions 
destroyed,  in  Arizona. 

Father  Nicholas  Foucault  was  murdered  by  the  Indians  in  1702 
while  on  his  way  from  the  Arkansas  Indians  to  Mobile,  and  Father 
du  Poisson,  a Jesuit,  in  1729,  on  his  way  to  New  Orleans  from  the 
same  Indians,  was  tomahawked  by  a Natchez  chief.  Another  Jesuit, 
Father  Souel,  was  riddled  by  musket  balls  in  the  same  Natchez 
massacre.  The  Jesuit  Father  Doutreleau  was  shot  at  the  altar  on 
New  Year’s  day,  1730,  by  the  Yazoos,  but  not  fatally.  Father 
Gaston,  ordained  a priest  in  1730,  was  sent  at  once  on  the  Missis- 
sippi mission,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  was  killed  by  the  Indians. 
The  Jesuit  Father,  Antoninus  Senat,  chaplain  to  Vincennes,  when  the 
commander  and  others  were  taken  prisoners,  remained  to  minister  to 
them,  and  was  burned  at  the  stake  on  Palm  Sunday,  1736,  by  the 
Chickasaws  in  Mississippi. 

Three  Dominicans,  Luis  Cancer,  Diego  de  Tolosa,  and  Juan  Gar- 
cia, were  massacred  in  1549  while  attempting  to  convert  the  Indians 
in  Florida.  Pedro  Menendez,  who  founded  St.  Augustine,  Florida, 
in  1565,  had  with  him  Franciscans  and  Jesuits,  as  well  as  secular 
priests,  one  of  whom,  Mendoza  Grajales,  was  the  first  parish  priest 
in  this  country.  The  first  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  St.  Augus- 
tine was  hallowed  by  the  death  of  the  Jesuit  Father,  Pedro  Martinez, 
slaughtered  out  of  hatred  of  the  Christian  faith  by  the  Florida 
Indians  at  Cumberland.  Two  more  Jesuit  Fathers,  J.  B.  de  Segura 
and  Luis  de  Quiros,  with  four  Jesuit  lay  brothers  from  St.  Augus- 
tine, in  attempting  the  conversion  of  the  Indians  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rappahannock,  in  Virginia,  were  savagely  butchered  in  1571.  In 
1597  the  Franciscan  Fathers,  Pedro  de  Corpa,  Bias  Rodriguez, 
Miguel  Aunon  and  Brother  Antonio  de  Badajos,  were  slain  for  relig- 
ion’s sake  in  Florida,  and  Father  Francisco  de  Velascola,  in  Georgia, 
and  Father  Francisco  de  Avila  was  made  a slave  to  the  savages  after 
being  pierced  with  arrows.  All  the  labors  of  these  zealous  mission- 
aries to  the  Indians  were  fruitless,  because  the  natives  naturally 
associated  the  notion  of  Christianity  with  the  insatiable  greed  and 
barbarous  cruelty  of  the  Spanish  invaders.  A better  result  seemed 
for  a time  to  have  been  gained  in  New  Mexico  among  the  Indians, 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when  partly  owing  to 


the  conduct  of  the  Spanish  governor,  and  partly  at  the  instigation 
of  the  medicine  men,  the  Indians  turned  on  the  Spaniards,  and 
twenty-one  Franciscans  were  slain. 

Three  priests  left  by  La  Salle  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi, 
in  1682,  were  massacred  by  the  Indians  after  his  return  to  Illinois. 
In  1696,  one  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers  was  executed  by  an  Indian 
tribe  in  Florida  for  having  converted  the  chief.  Fathers  Juan  de 
Parga  and  Angel  Miranda  were  burned  at  the  stake  in  1704  by  the 
Apalachicolas,  and  at  the  same  time  Father  Manuel  de  Mendoza 
and  another  religious,  Marcos  Delgado,  were  slain. 

Brother  Jose  Pita  was  the  first  Spanish  religious  slain  by  the 
Indians  in  Texas.  That  was  in  1721.  In  1752,  Father  Jose  Fran- 
cisco de  Ganzabal,  a missionary  of  San  Ildefonso,  in  Texas,  was 
slain  by  the  Cocos;  in  1757,  Father  Silva  was  murdered  by  the 
Indian  tribes  near  the  Rio  Grande,  and  in  1758,  Fathers  Terreros 
and  Santiesteban  were  killed,  and  Father  Molina  and  others  severely 
wounded  at  the  Apache  mission. 

The  first  chapel  erected  in  the  northern  part  of  the  United 
States  was  built  in  1604,  on  De  Monts  or  Neutral  Island,  in  the 
present  state  of  Maine,  and  bordering  on  New  Brunswick.  The  fol- 
lowing year  it  was  abandoned,  and  the  settlers,  with  the  cure,  Nicho- 
las Aubry,  were  transferred  to  Nova  Scotia.  Father  Biard  narrowly 
escaped  massacre  by  the  Indians,  on  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Kennebec,  where  he  offered  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass  in  1611. 
Two  years  later,  he  was  at  La  Saussaye’s  settlement  on  Mt.  Desert 
Island,  when  it  was  attacked  by  an  English  force  from  Virginia,  and 
with  Father  Quentin  he  was  carried  off  a prisoner  to  Virginia. 
Brother  Gilbert  du  Thet  was  mortally  wounded  in  the  action,  and 
Father  Masse  was  captured,  placed  in  a small  boat  with  some  other 
Frenchmen,  and  turned  adrift. 

In  1641  Father  Isaac  Jogues  and  Charles  Raymbault  planted 
tne  cross  in  Michigan  at  Sault  St.  Mary’s.  The  story  of  Father 
Jogues  is  familiar  to  all — his  capture  by  the  Mohawks,  the  tortures 
and  mutilation  he  underwent,  his  escape  by  the  aid  of  the  Dutch  in 
New  York,  his  return  to  the  Mohawks,  and  his  massacre  by  them, 
in  1646,  near  Auriesville,  Montgomery  county,  N.  Y.  The  third 
plenary  council  of  Baltimore  requested  the  introduction  of  the 
process  of  beatification  of  Father  Jogues,  and  of  his  companion, 
Rene  Goupil,  S.  J. 

The  Franciscan  Father  Gabriel  de  la  Ribourde  was  slain  by  the 
Indians  of  the  Kickapoo  tribe  in  Illinois,  in  1680.  A Recollect 
Father,  Constantine  Deshalles,  the  first  pastor  of  St.  Anne’s  in 
Detroit,  was  shot  by  the  Ottawas  while  engaged  in  a mission  of 
peace  from  them  to  the  Miamis  in  1706.  Father  Louis  Gingras,  S.  J. 
was  captured  by  the  Indians  near  Lake  Pepin  in  1728,  and  would 
have  been  burned  at  the  stake,  but  was  saved  by  the  Indian  practice 
of  adoption.  Father  Peter  Aulneau,  S.  J.,  was  killed  by  the  Ind- 
ians in  1736,  at  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

The  Jesuit  mission  among  the  Abnakis  in  Maine,  founded  in 
1646  by  Father  Gabriel  Druillettes,  had  been  wonderfully  blessed  by 
God,  and  the  people  during  the  long  pastorate  of  Father  Rale  had 
become  exemplary  in  their  faith  and  its  practice,  when  the  devoted 
priest  was  slain  by  the  English  and  Mohawks  in  1724  at  Norridge- 
wock.  Father  Sebastian  Rale  was  the  object  of  most  bitter  hostility, 
as  a Jesuit,  on  the  part  of  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  who  sent 
Colonel  Westbrook  with  a force  of  more  than  200  men  to  kill  or  cap- 
ture him,  in  1722;  and  failing  at  first,  sent  Colonel  Moulton  in  1724 
with  an  increased  force  of  whites  and  Mohawks  against  the  old  crip- 
pled priest,  now  nearly  70  years  of  age.  The  hostility  to  Father 
Rale  was  not  satiated  by  his  butchery;  in  1835  his  monument,  erected 
two  years  previously,  was  destroyed,  and  the  citizens  restoring  it, 
was  thrown  down  in  1851,  by7  worthy  neighbors  of  the  people  of 
Ellsworth,  who,  a little  later,  acquired  lasting  infamy  by  tarring 
and  feathering  another  noble  Jesuit. 

The  penal  laws  against  Catholics,  against  Catholic  priests,  and 
especially  against  Jesuits  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  New  Jersey,  New 


INTRODUCTION. 


York,  and  Massachusetts,  in  the  first  half  of  the  last  century,  were 
barbarous  in  the  extreme.  Laws  specially  directed  against  the 
Jesuits  were  passed  in  Louisiana  and  Illinois,  confiscating  their  prop- 
erty and  expelling  them,  in  1763,  and  they  were  treated  as  crimi- 
nals, and  subjected  to  every  ignominy.  The  labors  and  sufferings  of 
the  missionaries  who  planted  the  seeds  of  faith  in  what  is  now  the 
United  States,  were  all  the  more  difficult  to  undergo,  on  account  of 
the  unpromising  results  which  followed.  If  they  succeeded  in  get- 
ting a hearing  among  the  savages,  they  had  to  explain  an  entirely 
new  order  of  thought  to  a degraded  and  ignorant  race,  in  a barbar- 
ous language,  difficult  to  learn,  and  without  the  words  needed  for 
the  expression  of  Christian  truths.  They  had  to  adopt  many  cus- 
toms of  savage  life,  endure  filth  that  their  natures  recoiled  from; 
often  when  they  had  instructed  and  baptized  a band  of  neophytes,  they 
found  them  soon  after  relapsed  into  their  former  superstitions.  The 
character  of  the  Indians  themselves,  their  constant  wars  with  hostile 
tribes,  and  the  influence  on  them  of  white  men  were  obstacles 
which  the  missionaries  could  not  get  rid  of.  As  St.  Francis  Xavier 
complained  of  the  impossibility  of  converting  the  Indians  of  the 
East  to  the  religion  of  the  tyrannical,  licentious,  and  grasping  Portu- 
guese, who  were  the  first  colonists  of  Goa  and  the  neighboring  terri- 
tory, and  met  with  the  glorious  results  of  his  mission  in  Japan, 
where  he  was  unaccompanied  by  European  adventurers,  so,  on 
this  western  hemisphere,  from  the  days  of  Columbus,  the  greatest 
impediment  to  the  conversion  of  the  aborigines  has  been  interposed 
by  the  licentiousness,  greed,  and  injustice  of  those  calling  themselves 
Christians. 

When  the  apostles  announced  the  Gospel  to  the  nations,  their 
teaching  was  accepted  or  rejected  according  as  it  seemed  to  those  who 
listened  to  be  good  or  evil,  true  or  false.  In  modern  times,  and  in  this 
country  in  particular,  both  with  the  Indians  and  the  descendants  of 
Europeans,  there  has  been  put  into  the  scale  with  Christianity  the 
practical  example  set  by  so-called  Christians. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  these  obstacles,  the  success  achieved  by  the  mis- 
sionaries was  in  many  places  most  consoling.  Instances  of  rare 
devotedness  and  sanctity  were  numerous;  many  of  the  converts 
sealed  their  faith  with  their  blood,  and  the  holy  missionaries  often 
describe  themselves  as  more  than  recompensed  for  their  toil.  When, 
however,  a hundred  years  ago,  a national  government  was  established 
over  the  American  colonies,  peace  was  restored,  persecution  of 
Catholics  for  conscience’  sake  seemed  at  an  end,  a bright  prospect 
was  opened  before  the  clergy  and  laity  of  the  church.  Washington 
recognized  the  important  services  of  Catholics  at  home  and  abroad 
in  the  struggle  for  national  independence;  congress  proposed  to  the 
states  for  ratification  that  amendment  to  the  constitution  which  for- 
bids the  national  legislature  to  curtail  religious  liberty;  Pius  VI 
happily  uniting  in  one  ecclesiastical  government  all  Catholics  of 
various  origin,  named  for  the  first  American  bishop  the  most  prom- 
inent priest  in  the  country,  and  a man  universally  respected.  Catho- 
lics must  have  felt  then  very  much  as  the  early  Christians  did  when 
Constantine  put  an  end  to  their  chronic  persecution  throughout  the 
Roman  empire.  Bright  as  were  then  the  hopes  of  Catholics,  the 
reality  to-day  far  exceeds  those  hopes;  and  if  the  church  then 
rejoiced  at  her  improved  condition,  she  has  far  more  reason  to  be 
glad  and  to  exult,  as  she  surveys  her  work  of  one  hundred  years, 
and  looks  forward  into  the  dazzling  probabilities  before  her. 

The  cardinal  archbishop  of  Baltimore  says  in  his  pastoral  letter 
of  October  18,  on  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy 
in  the  United  States:  Archbishop  Carroll  “did  not  wish  the  church 
to  vegetate  as  a delicate  exotic  plant;  he  wished  it  to  become  a 
sturdy  tree,  deep-rooted  in  the  soil,  to  grow  with  the  growth  and 
bloom  with  the  development  of  the  country,  inured  to  its  climate, 
braving  its  storms  and  invigorated  by  them  and  yielding  abundantly 
the  fruits  of  sanctification. 

“Knowing  as  he  did,  the  mischief  bred  by  national  rivalries, 
his  aim  was  that  the  clergy  and  people  — no  matter  from  what 


vii 

country  they  sprung  — should  be  thoroughly  identified  with  the  land 
in  which  their  lot  is  cast,  that  they  should  study  its  laws  and  polit- 
ical constitution,  and  be  in  harmony  with  its  spirit;  in  a word,  that 
they  should  become  as  soon  as  possible  assimilated  to  the  social 
body  in  all  things  appertaining  to  the  domain  of  civil  life.’’ 

With  these  same  sentiments  pervading  the  whole  American 
hierarchy  and  Catholics  generally,  no  prophetic  exaggeration  is  pos- 
sible of  what  the  next  century  will  witness  in  the  growth  and 
influence  of  the  church,  to  which  we  look  not  only  for  the  salvation 
of  individuals,  but  also  of  the  nation. 

While  assembling,  therefore,  at  Bishop  Carroll’s  episcopal  city, 
to  render  thanks  for  past  benefits  by  solemn  religious  celebration, 
the  happy  thought  was  conceived  of  combining  at  the  same  time  a 
congress  or  general  convention  of  the  Catholics  of  the  country. 

Catholic  congresses  have  been  held  in  Germany  for  the  last 
forty  years.  They  have  united  the  Catholic  body,  and  directed 
Catholic  thought,  and  sustained  the  church  through  nearly  two 
decades  of  persecution.  In  Belgium  they  commenced  a little  later. 
There  they  have  successfully  asserted  Catholic  rights  in  elections,  in 
education,  espoused  the  cause  of  the  working  men,  and  attacked  the 
growing  evil  of  alcoholism.  Good  results  may  be  anticipated  from 
other  Catholic  congresses,  such  as  those  in  France,  Austria,  Bavaria, 
and  Spain. 

A general  congress  of  all  English-speaking  Catholics  was  talked 
of  lately,  and  may  yet  be  held  ; but  if  so,  it  is  uncertain  when.  A 
congress  of  all  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  has  been  talked  of, 
and  written  about,  for  some  time  past;  but  no  decided  action  was 
taken  to  bring  one  about,  until  at  the  close  of  last  winter  it  was 
decided  to  take  advantage  of  the  Baltimore  celebration  of  the  first 
centenary  of  the  American  hierarchy,  and  to  call  a meeting  of 
Catholics  of  the  United  States  for  the  same  time  and  at  the  same 
place.  A number  of  bishops  were  consulted  as  the  first  step  in  the 
matter.  The  cardinal  archbishop  of  Baltimore  and  the  archbishops 
or  bishops  of  New  York  and  Portland,  of  San  Francisco  and  Oregon, 
of  St.  Paul  and  New  Orleans,  of  Cleveland  and  Covington,  Ft. 
Wayne  and  Peoria,  were  written  to.  The  prelates  thus  addressed 
with  singular  accord,  perceived  the  great  good  that  ought  to  follow 
the  action  proposed,  and  encouraged  the  undertaking.  Among  them 
were  men  of  Dutch,  Belgian,  German,  Irish,  Scotch,  and  Anglo- 
American  birth  or  descent,  from  the  extreme  east  and  west,  from 
north  and  south,  and  from  the  centre  of  the  United  States. 

To  determine  on  a plan  of  action,  a meeting  was  held  at  Chicago, 
last  May,  of  Most  Reverend  Archbishop  Ireland,  of  St.  Paul;  Mr.  H. 
J.  Spaunhorst,  of  St.  Louis;  Mr.W.  J.  Onahan,  of  Chicago,  and  Mr. 
H.  F.  Brownson,  of  Detroit.  The  objects  to  be  aimed  at,  the  means  of 
attaining  to  them,  and  a rough  draft  of  the  mode  of  proceeding  were 
discussed. 

The  objects  proposed  were  the  closer  union  of  all  the  members 
of  the  Catholic  body  in  the  country,  increased  activity  of  the  laity 
in  aid  of  the  clergy  in  religious  work,  and  the  declaration  of  their 
views  on  the  important  questions  of  the  hour,  and  the  assistance  and 
relief  of  the  poorer  classes  of  society. 

It  was  never  intended  that  the  proposed  congress  should  be  a 
lay  congress,  in  the  sense  that  it  excluded  co-operation,  advice,  aid, 
or  direction  from  the  clergy;  but  only  in  the  sense  that  laymen  were  to 
take  the  initiative,  arrange  the  details,  fill  the  business  offices,  and 
write  the  papers  to  be  read  and  afterwards  discussed  by  both  clergy 
and  laity. 

Neither  was  it  expected  that  a great  amount  of  work  would  be 
accomplished  at  the  first  congress,  which  was  set  for  the  nth  and 
12th  of  November,  and  would  be  terminated  then  in  consequence  of 
the  opening  of  the  new  university  on  the  13th,  at  Washington.  Yet 
something  worth  the  pains  could  be  done  in  two  days,  and  a begin  • 
ing  made  that  would  lead  to  greater  results  thereafter.  The  con- 
ference at  Chicago  called  a larger  conference  to  meet  in  Detroit,  June 
4th.  At  the  conference  in  Detroit,  presided  over  by  Rt.  Rev.  M. 


INTRODUCTION. 


viii 

Marty,  O.  S.  B.,  were  present  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  of  Detroit;  V. 
Rev.  J.  A.  Stephan,  of  the  Indian  Bureau,  and  some  dozen  laymen 
who  had  been  able  to  respond  to  the  short  invitation. 

After  discussing,  at  great  length,  what  language  should  be  used 
in  the  congress,  and  what  topics  should  be  treated  of,  the  Detroit 
conference  appointed  a Committee  on  Organization,  consisting  of  Mr. 
Onalian,  Mr.  Spaunhorst  and  Mr.  D.  A.  Rudd,  of  Cincinnati,  to 
issue  the  call  for  the  congress  and  to  organize  it;  and  another  Com- 
mittee on  Papers,  consisting  of  Mr.  Brownson,  Mr.  Peter  L.  Foy,  of 
St.  Louis,  and  Mr.  M.  J.  Harson,  of  Providence,  to  prepare  the  work 
to  be  done  in  the  congress  after  it  met;  and  the  conference  then 
adjourned. 

The  cardinal  archbishop  of  Baltimore  spontaneously  offered  to 
attend  to  all  the  local  preparations  in  Baltimore,  and  appointed  a 
committee  for  that  purpose,  of  which  His  Eminence  was  the  chair- 
man. How  admirably  this  committee  executed  what  it  so  kindly 
undertook  is  apparent  from  the  reporter’s  account  of  the  arrange- 
ments made. 

The  Committee  on  Organization,  to  which  Mr.  J.  D.  Keiley,  Jr., 
of  Brooklyn,  and  Dr.  J.  G.  Shea,  of  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  were  subse- 
quently added,  had  no  slight  work  to  perform,  most  of  which,  how- 
ever, devolved  upon  its  indefatigable  chairman. 

The  Committee  on  Papers  had  not  so  much  of  a sinecure  as 
might  have  been  expected.  Not  appointed  till  the  month  of  June, 
it  was  necessary  to  secure  writers  of  papers  in  ample  season  to  have 
well  digested  essays  prepared  before  the  congress  should  open. 
Many  persons  written  to  for  that  purpose  were  found  to  have  sailed, 
or  to  be  on  the  point  of  sailing,  for  Europe;  others,  especially  law- 
yers, were  at  various  summer  resorts,  where  they  could  consult  no 
books  on  the  subjects  assigned  them,  and  would  be  occupied  in  pro- 
fessional duties  after  their  return  home,  until  it  would  be  too  late. 
Some  neglected  to  answer  until  the  congress  was  so  close  at  hand 
that  none  could  then  be  found  to  take  what  they  so  tardily  refused. 
To  these  causes  must  be  attributed  the  omission  of  some  important 
topics,  which  will  require  the  consideration  of  future  congresses. 

Inasmuch  as  this  congress  was,  in  some  sense,  a part  of  the 
religious  solemnity  at  the  same  time  and  place,  His  Eminence,  the 
Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  deemed  it  even  more  desirable 
than  would  otherwise  have  been  the  case,  that  the  papers  to  be  read 
before  the  congress  should  be  submitted  to  an  advisory  committee  of 
bishops.  For  this  purpose  His  Eminence  named  Archbishop  Ire- 
land as  chairman,  and  Bishops  Gilmour,  Maes,  Ryan  (of  Buffalo), 
Harkins,  and  Foley  as  associates.  This  task  they  executed  with  all 
courtesy;  but  it  turned  out  a sinecure,  as  the  papers  submitted  were 
all  “as  true  as  preaching.”  They  were,  nevertheless,  of  great 
assistance  to  both  committees,  aiding,  advising,  co-operating  in  every 
way,  giving  much  time,  and  travelling  (some  of  them)  great  distances 
for  that  purpose.  The  assistance  they  rendered  in  this  matter  has 
won  for  them  the  gratitude  of  the  members  of  the  committees,  and 
entitles  them  to  that  of  all  the  Catholics  who  were  present  at  the 
congress. 

The  work  attempted  in  this  first  Catholic  American  Congress 
will  be  carried  on  more  completely  hereafter,  and  the  genius  of  our 
people  will  direct  it  in  a practical  and  effective  way.  It  is  well  that 
we  should  do  our  work  in  our  own  way,  without  following  too  closely 
in  the  tracks  of  our  European  co-religionists.  We  live  under  differ- 
ent conditions  in  almost  every  particular,  can  do  much  here  that 
would  not  be  permitted  in  other  countries,  and  much  that  is  thought 
important  there  would  be  useless  or  worse  here. 

The  only  serious  defect  from  which  we  are  likely  to  suffer  in 
the  future,  as  we  have  suffered  in  the  past,  is  in  the  matter  of  educa- 
tion. The  fact  is  that  in  English-speaking  countries  Catholics  are 
less  educated  than  non-Catholics.  Whatever  cause  we  may  ascribe  it 
to,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  ascribe  it  to  any  cause  not  honorable 
to  them  as  Catholics,  the  fact  remains  that  the  mass  of  Catholics  are 
comparatively  uneducated,  and  the  graduates  of  our  institutions  of 


learning  are  inferior  in  literary  and  scientific  scholarship  to  those 
trained  in  other  schools.  If  there  are  any  among  us,  clergy  or 
laity,  that  seem  to  be  exceptions,  I think  they  will  all  be  found  to 
have  received  a part,  at  least,  of  their  education  elsewhere. 

A distinguished  Catholic  wrote  in  1847:  “The  welfare  of 
the  many  is  unquestionably  to  be  sought ; but  it  must  needs 
be  sought  by  the  few,  and  the  chief  concern  of  a nation  seek- 
ing the  welfare  of  the  many  is  therefore  the  education  of  the 
few.  For  these  the  highest  standard  of  scholarship  is  neces- 
sary, and  the  most  liberal  provision  should  be  made.  It  would 
be  well,  if  we  had  somewhere  in  the  country  a university  proper, 
a university  worthy  of  the  name,  to  which  the  brightest  and 
most  promising  of  our  youth,  after  graduating  at  our  colleges,  might 
be  sent,  and  where  they  might  reside  some  six  or  seven  years  and 
continue  their  studies.  Such  a university  would  soon  raise  the 
standard  of  scholarship  and  in  time  we  should  have,  in  every  depart- 
ment of  literary,  scientific,  and  public  life,  scholars  worthy  of  the 
name  — masters,  not  mere  pupils,  who  would  be  a credit  to  their 
age  and  country,  and  from  whom  would  descend  a most  salutary  influ- 
ence upon  the  people  below  them.”  And  in  1874,  the  same  author 
wrote:  “We,  as  Catholics,  want  a grand  Catholic  univesity  into 
which  the  students  who  have  taken  their  degree  of  A.  B.,  and  have 
distinguished  themselves  in  our  existing  colleges,  may  enter  and 
continue  under  able  professors  their  studies  of  predilection  for  four, 
six,  or  eight  years  longer.  Then  we  may  have  scholars,  learned 
men,  scientific  men,  philosophers,  theologians,  not  unworthy  of  the 
name,  to  the  great  service  of  the  church  and  benefit  to  American 
society,  especially  to  our  Catholic  community.  We  must  bear  in 
mind  that  scholars  are  trained  for  the  public  good,  not  for  their  pri- 
vate advantage,  and  that  the  thorough  education  of  the  few  is  of 
vastly  more  importance  to  the  community  than  the  half-education  of 
the  many,  which  is  all  the  many  in  any  nation  or  country  do  or  can 
receive.”  Similar  expressions  by  writers  and  speakers,  from  time 
to  time,  indicated  that  all  who  had  given  any  serious  thought  to 
the  matter,  saw  the  importance,  and  even  the  necessity,  of  a genuine 
Catholic  university,  if  we  are  ever  to  take  the  rank  in  American  life 
to  which  our  condition  in  every  other  respect  entitles  us. 

No  step,  however,  seems  to  have  been  taken  to  carry  out  the 
thought  conceived  by  so  many  until  about  six  years  ago,  when 
Bishop  Spalding,  of  Peoria,  began  to  urge  with  earnestness  and 
eloquence  the  need  of  proceeding  with  the  work  without  further 
delay.  The  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore  unanimously  ap- 
proved of  the  undertaking  ; the  Holy  Father  gave  encouragement  ; 
and  Catholics  gladly  responded  with  generous  donations.  Within 
three  or  four  months  after  the  corner  stone  of  the  divinity  school  of 
the  new  university  was  laid  in  May,  1888,  nearly  $1,000,000  had 
been  given,  besides  large  amounts  contingent  on  the  death  of  testa- 
tors, for  the  erection  of  the  university  and  the  founding  of  professor- 
ships. In  accordance  with  the  wish  of  the  council  of  Baltimore  the 
seminary  or  divinity  school  was  to  be  first  established.  But  it  is 
expected  that  the  other  faculties  will  be  added  in  two  or  three  years. 
The  capital  city  of  the  United  States  was  selected  for  the  university, 
by  the  vote  of  the  bishops,  and  offers  many  advantages  for  the  pur- 
pose, which  cannot  be  had  elsewhere,  and  the  site  has  been  chosen 
in  a part  of  the  town  where  the  air  is  purest  and  summer  heat  most 
endurable. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  John  J.  Keane  resigned  the  see  of  Richmond  to 
preside  over  the  new  university,  and  has  labored  with  untiring 
energy  and  great  success  in  engaging  professors,  arranging  various 
details,  and  in  arousing  the  Catholic  community  to  active  interest. 
His  appreciation  of  the  high  character  and  of  the  importance 
of  the  university,  his  zeal  in  the  work,  his  tact  and  judgment 
in  the  means  adopted,  have  won,  as  they  deserved  to  win,  an 
unexpected  success.  So  far  as  the  theological  department  is  con- 
cerned, success  is  accomplished  ; but  there  still  remains  much  to  be 
done.  It  is  the  interest  of  every  Catholic  in  our  country  that  the 


INTRODUCTION. 


IX 


other  faculties  should  be  added  without  delay.  The  buildings  will 
be  erected,  and  the  professors  and  pupils  collected,  as  soon  as  the 
means  are  secured  for  meeting  the  expenses. 

The  buildings  to  be  erected  are  not  costly.  The  estimate  for 
the  building  just  opened  was  only  $175,000,  and  its  cost  will  not 
greatly,  if  at  all,  exceed  that  sum.  The  other  buildings  will  un- 
doubtedly be  in  proportion.  The  great  expense  is  for  the  endow- 
ment of  chairs  and  scholarships,  and  a considerable  amount  will  be 
required  to  purchase  a library  worthy  of  the  university,  and  one 
which  may  meet  the  needs  of  the  scholars  of  the  country. 

That  the  additional  millions  of  dollars  which  are  still  needed 
will  be  forthcoming  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt.  It  is  only  neces- 
sary for  our  generous  and  wealthy  Catholics  to  know  that  money  is 
needed  for  the  purpose,  and  it  will  be  cheerfully  and  abundantly 
given. 


This  volume  will  show  with  what  splendor  the  centenary  was  cel- 
ebrated at  Baltimore,  and  the  university  opened  at  Washington.  It 
will  record  the  lavish  hospitality  with  which  Baltimore  entertained 
her  visitors.  It  will  relate  the  harmony  and  enthusiasm  prevailing 
at  the  Catholic  congress.  But,  most  important  of  all,  it  will  give 
in  full  the  addresses  of  the  Most  Reverend  Prelates,  the  papers  read 
at  the  congress,  and  the  address  there  adopted.  If  these  are  ex- 
tensively read  and  reflected  on,  they  cannot  fail  to  give  a better  tone 
to  Catholic  opinion  generally,  to  remove  much  prejudice,  and  to 
excite  the  Catholic  laity  to  greater  exertions  in  the  cause  of  religion 
and  morality. 

It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  the  enthusiasm  will  continue, 
and  that  Catholics  will  go  to  work  energetically  to  do  all  that  they 
have  asserted  their  power  and  intention  to  perform,  and  make  the 
coming  century  the  most  glorious  in  all  history. 


THE  CATHEDRAE,  BALTIMORE.  MD 


BULL  OF  PIUS  VI. 


* 

Instituting  the  See  of  Baltimore. 


POPE  PIUS  VI. 

For  the  Perpetual  Memory  of  the  Fact. 

When  from  the  eminence  of  our  apostolic  station,  we  bend  our 
attention  to  the  different  regions  of  the  earth,  in  order  to  fulfil  to  the 
utmost  extent  of  our  power  the  duty  which  our  Lord  has  imposed 
upon  our  unworthiness  of  ruling  and  feeding  his  flock,  our  care  and 
solicitude  are  particularly  engaged  that  the  faithful  of  Christ,  who, 
dispersed  through  various  provinces,  are  united  to  us  by  Catholic 
communion,  may  be  governed  by  their  proper  pastors,  and  diligently 
instructed  by  them  in  the  discipline  of  evangelical  life  and  doctrine. 
For  it  is  our  principle  that  they  who,  relying  on  the  divine  assistance, 
have  regulated  their  lives  and  manners  agreeably  to  the  precepts  of 
Christian  wisdom,  ought  so  to  command  their  own  passions  as  to 
promote  by  the  pursuit  of  justice  their  own  and  their  neighbor’s 
spiritual  advantage;  and  that  they  who  have  received  from  their 
bishops,  and  by  checking  the  intemperance  of  self-wisdom,  have 
steadily  adhered  to  the  heavenly  doctrine  delivered  by  Christ  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  should  not  be  carried  away  by  every  wind  ot 
doctrine,  but,  grounded  on  the  authority  of  divine  revelation,  should 
reject  the  new  and  varying  doctrines  of  men,  which  endanger  the 
tranquillity  of  government,  and  rest  in  the  unchangeable  faith  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  For  in  the  present  degeneracy  of  corrupt  manners 
into  which  human  nature,  ever  resisting  the  sweet  yoke  of  Christ, 
is  hurried,  and  in  the  pride  of  talents  and  knowledge  which  disdain 
to  submit  the  opinions  and  dreams  of  men  to  the  evangelical  truth 
delivered  by  Jesus  Christ,  support  must  be  given  by  that  heavenly 
authority  which  is  intrusted  to  the  Catholic  Church,  as  to  a steady 
pillar  and  solid  foundation  which  shall  never  fail;  that  from  her 
voice  and  instructions  mankind  may  learn  the  objects  of  their  faith 
and  the  rules  of  their  conduct,  not  only  for  the  obtaining  of  eternal 
salvation,  but  also  for  the  regulation  of  their  life,  and  the  maintain- 
ing of  concord  in  the  society  of  this  earthly  city.  Now,  this  charge 
of  teaching  and  ruling  first  given  to  the  apostles,  and  especially  to 
St.  Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles,  on  whom  alone  the  church  is 
built,  and  to  whom  our  Lord  and  Redeemer  intrusted  the  feeding  ot 
his  lambs  and  of  his  sheep,  has  been  derived  in  due  order  of  suc- 
cession to  bishops,  and  especially  to  the  Roman  pontiffs,  successors 
of  St.  Peter  and  heirs  of  his  power  and  dignity,  that  thereby  it  might 
be  made  evident  that  the  gates  of  hell  can  never  prevail  against  the 
church,  and  that  the  divine  Founder  of  it  will  ever  assist  it  to  the 
consummation  of  ages;  so  that  neither  in  the  depravity  of  morals 
nor  in  the  fluctuation  of  novel  opinions,  the  episcopal  succession 
shall  ever  fail,  or  the  bark  of  Peter  be  sunk.  Wherefore,  it  having 
reached  our  ears  that  in  the  flourishing  commonwealth  of  thirteen 
American  states  many  faithful  Christians  united  in  communion  with 
the  chair  of  Peter,  in  which  the  centre  of  Catholic  unity  is  fixed,  and 
governed  in  their  spiritual  concerns  by  their  own  priests  having  care 
of  souls,  earnestly  desire  that  a bishop  may  be  appointed  over  them 


to  exercise  the  functions  of  episcopal  order,  to  feed  them  more  largely 
with  the  food  of  salutary  doctrine,  and  to  guard  more  carefully  that 
portion  of  the  Catholic  flock,  we  willingly  embraced  this  oppor- 
tunity, which  the  grace  of  Almighty  God  has  afforded  us,  to  provide 
those  distant  regions  with  the  comfort  and  ministry  of  a Catholic 
bishop.  And  that  this  may  be  effected  more  successfully  and  in 
accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  sacred  canons,  we  commissioned  our 
venerable  brethren,  the  cardinals  of  the  holy  Roman  church,  direct- 
ors of  the  congregation  “ de  propaganda  fide,”  to  manage  this  busi- 
ness with  the  greatest  care,  and  to  make  a report  to  us.  It  was 
therefore  appointed  by  their  decree,  approved  by  us,  and  published 
the  twelfth  day  of  July  of  the  last  year,  that  the  priests  who  lawfully 
exercise  the  sacred  ministry  and  have  care  of  souls  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  should  be  empowered  to  advise  together  and  to 
determine,  first,  in  what  town  the  episcopal  see  ought  to  be  erected, 
and  next,  who  of  the  aforesaid  priests  appeared  the  most  worthy  and 
proper  to  be  promoted  to  this  important  charge,  whom  we,  for  the 
first  time  only,  and  by  special  grace,  permitted  the  said  priests  to 
elect  and  to  present  to  this  apostolic  see.  In  obedience  to  this  decree, 
the  aforesaid  priests  exercising  the  care  of  souls  in  the  United  States 
of  America,  unanimously  agreed  that  a bishop,  with  ordinary  juris- 
diction, ought  to  be  established  in  the  town  of  Baltimore,  because 
this  town,  situate  in  Maryland,  which  province  the  greater  part  of 
the  priests  and  the  faithful  inhabit,  appeared  the  most  conveniently 
placed  for  intercourse  with  the  other  states,  and  because  from  this 
province  Catholic  religion  and  faith  had  been  propagated  into  the 
others.  And  at  the  time  appointed  for  the  election,  they  being  assem- 
bled together,  the  sacrifice  of  holy  mass  being  celebrated,  and  the 
grace  and  assistance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  being  implored,  the  votes  of 
all  present  were  taken,  and  of  twenty-six  priests  who  were  assem- 
bled, twenty-four  gave  their  votes  for  our  beloved  .son,  John  Carroll, 
whom  they  judged  the  most  proper  to  support  the  burden  of  episco- 
pacy, and  sent  an  authentic  instrument  of  the  whole  transaction  to 
the  aforesaid  congregation  of  cardinals.  Now,  all  things  being  mate- 
rially weighed  and  considered  in  this  congregation,  it  was  easily  agreed 
that  the  interests  and  increase  of  Catholic  religion  would  be  greatly 
promoted  if  an  episcopal  see  were  erected  at  Baltimore,  and  the  said 
John  Carroll  were  appointed  the  bishop  of  it.  We,  therefore,  to 
whom  this  opinion  has  been  reported  by  our  beloved  son,  Cardinal 
Antonelli,  prefect  of  the  said  congregation,  having  nothing  more  at 
heart  than  to  insure  success  to  whatever  tends  to  the  propagation  of 
true  religion,  and  to  the  honor  and  increase  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
by  the  plenitude  of  our  apostolical  power,  and  by  the  tenor  of  these 
presents,  do  establish  and  erect  the  aforesaid  town  of  Baltimore  into 
an  episcopal  see  forever  for  one  bishop,  to  be  chosen  by  us  in  all 
future  vacancies;  and  we,  therefore,  by  the  apostolical  authority 
aforesaid,  do  allow,  grant,  and  permit  to  the  bishop  of  the  said  city 
and  to  his  successors  in  all  future  times,  to  exercise  episcopal  power 
and  jurisdiction,  and  every  other  episcopal  function  which  bishops 


BULL  OF  PIUS  VI. 


xi 


constituted  in  other  places  are  empowered  to  hold  and  enjoy  in  their 
respective  churches,  cities,  and  dioceses,  by  right,  custom  or  by 
other  means,  by  general  privileges,  graces,  indults,  and  apostolical 
dispensations,  together  with  all  preeminences,  honors,  immunities, 
graces,  and  favors,  which  other  cathedral  churches,  by  right  or  cus- 
tom, or  in  any  other  sort,  have,  hold,  and  enjoy.  We  moreover 
decree  and  declare  the  said  episcopal  see,  thus  erected,  to  be  subject 
or  suffragan  to  no  metropolitan  right  or  jurisdiction,  but  to  be  for- 
ever subject  immediately 
to  us  and  to  our  success- 
ors, the  Roman  pontiffs 
and  to  this  apostolical  see. 

And  till  another  opportun- 
ity shall  be  presented  to 
us  of  establishing  other 
Catholic  bishops  in  the 
United  States  of  America, 
and  till  other  dispositions 
shall  be  made  by  this  apos- 
tolical see,  we  declare,  by 
our  apostolical  authority, 
all  the  faithful  of  Christ, 
living  in  Catholic  commun- 
ion, as  well  ecclesiastics  as 
seculars,  and  all  the  clergy 
and  people  dwelling  in  the 
aforesaid  United  States  of 
America,  though  hitherto 
they  may  have  been  subject 
to  other  bishops  of  other 
dioceses,  to  be  hencefor- 
ward subject  to  the  bishop 
of  Baltimore  in  all  future 
times.  And  whereas,  by 
special  grant,  and  for  this 
time  only,  we  have  allowed 
the  priests  exercising  the 
care  of  souls  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  to  elect 
a person  to  be  appointed 
bishop  by  us,  and  almost 
all  their  votes  have  been 
given  to  our  beloved  son, 

John  Carroll,  priest,  we 
being  otherwise  certified  of 
his  faith,  prudence,  piety, 
and  zeal,  forasmuch  as  by 
our  mandate  he  hath  during  the  late  years  directed  the  spiritual  gov- 
ernment of  souls,  do  therefore,  by  the  plenitude  of  our  authority, 
declare,  create,  appoint,  and  constitute  the  said  John  Carroll  bishop 
and  pastor  of  the  said  church  of  Baltimore,  granting  to  him  the 
faculty  of  receiving  the  rite  of  consecration  from  any  Catholic  bishop 
holding  communion  with  the  apostolical  see,  assisted  by  two  eccle- 
siastics, vested  with  some  dignity,  in  case  that  two  bishops  cannot 
be  had,  first  having  taken  the  usual  oath  according  to  the  Roman 
Pontifical. 


And  we  commission  the  said  bishop-elect  to  erect  a church  in 
the  said  city  of  Baltimore,  in  form  of  a cathedral  church,  in  so  far  as 
the  times  and  circumstances  may  allow,  to  institute  a body  of  clergy 
deputed  to  divine  worship  and  to  the  service  of  the  said  church; 
and  moreover,  to  establish  an  episcopal  seminary,  either  in  the  same 
city  or  elsewhere,  as  he  shall  judge  most  expedient,  to  administer 
ecclesiastical  incomes,  and  to  execute  all  other  things  which  he  shall 
think  in  the  Lord  to  be  expedient  for  the  increase  of  Catholic  faith, 

and  the  augmentation  of 
the  worship  and  splendor 
of  the  new  erected  church. 
We  moreover  enjoin  the 
said  bishop  to  obey  the 
injunctions  of  our  vener- 
able brethren,  the  cardi- 
nals, directors  of  the  sa- 
cred congregation,  “de 
propaganda  fide,  ’ ’ to  trans- 
mit to  them,  at  proper 
times,  a relation  of  his  vis- 
itation of  his  church,  and 
to  inform  them  of  all  things 
which  he  shall  judge  to  be 
useful  to  the  spiritual  good 
and  salvation  of  the  flock 
trusted  to  his  charge.  We 
therefore  decree  that  these 
our  letters  are  and  ever 
shall  be  firm,  valid,  and 
efficacious,  and  shall  obtain 
their  full  and  entire  effect, 
and  be  observed  inviolable 
by  all  persons  whom  it  now 
doth,  or  hereafter  may  con- 
cern; and  that  all  judges, 
ordinary  and  delegated, 
even  auditors  of  causes  of 
the  sacred  apostolical  pal- 
ace and  cardinals  of  the 
holy  Roman  church,  must 
thus  judge  and  define,  de- 
priving all  and  each  of 
them  of  all  power  and  au- 
thority to  judge  or  inter- 
pret in  any  other  manner; 
and  declaring  all  to  be  null 
and  void  if  any  one,  by 
any  authority,  should  presume,  either  knowingly  or  unknowingly, 
to  attempt  anything  contrary  thereunto,  notwithstanding  all 
apostolical,  general  or  special  constitutions  and  ordinances,  published 
in  universal,  provincial,  and  synodical  councils,  and  all  things  con- 
trary whatsoever. 

Given  at  Rome,  at  St.  Mary  Major,  under  the  Fisherman’s 
Ring,  the  6th  day  of  November,  1 789,  and  in  the  fifteenth  year  of 
our  pontificate. 

[L.  S.]  R.  Card.  Braschi  Onesti. 


Cardinal  Gibbons’  Letter  to  Leo  XIII  in  Relation  to  the  Centennial 

Celebration.— Pope  Leo’s  Reply. 


Baltimore,  August  12,  1889. 

Most  Holy  Father : In  the  month  of  November  next  we  will 
celebrate  in  Baltimore  the  centenary  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Hierarchy  in  the  United  States  by  your  predecessor,  Pope  Pius  VI, 
of  venerable  and  happy  memory.  We  will  have  at  the  same  time 
the  consolation  of  commencing  the  second  century  of  our  existence 
as  an  organized  Church  by  the  inauguration  of  the  Catholic  Univer- 
sity, for  which  we  are  so  indebted  to  the  love  and  devotion  which 
Your  Holiness  has  always  manifested  toward  our  country  and 
Church. 

It  is  our  glory,  Most  Holy  Father,  to  have  always  preciously 
guarded  toward  the  Holy  See  those  sentiments  of  respect,  obedi- 
ence, and  attachment  which  have  bound  our  first  fathers  in  the  faith , 
and  especially  him  whom  in  all  truth  we  can  call  the  founder  of  our 
Church,  the  venerable  Bishop  Carroll. 

For  my  part,  as  the  eighth  successor  of  that  illustrious  and 
holy  prelate  in  the  See  of  Baltimore,  I experience  an  unspeakable 
happiness  in  placing  under  these  circumstances,  at  the  feet  of  Your 
Holiness,  the  respectful  homage  of  my  filial  obedience,  and  that  of 
the  eighty  Archbishops  and  Bishops  and  Vicars  Apostolic  who  to-day 
constitute  our  Hierarchy. 

A great  number  of  those  prelates  will  come  to  join  with  me  in 
thanking  God  for  -the  blessing  which  He  has  given  to  the  act  ol 
Pius  VI  by  developing  in  so  marvelous  a manner  among  us  all  our 
works  of  charity  and  religion,  and  by  multiplying  the  ecclesiastical 
provinces  and  episcopal  sees  in  a country  once  almost  entirely  in 
the  diocese  of  Baltimore. 

To  all  these  favors  which  we  hold  from  your  paternal  affection, 
I presume,  Most  Holy  Father,  to  ask  you  to  add  one  more  : That 
you  may  deign  to  send  some  representatives  to  take  part  in  the 
solemnities,  who  would  unite  with  us  in  thanking  God  for  the  great 
things  which  divine  Providence  has  accomplished  among  us  during 
the  first  century  of  our  life  as  a Church.  This  participation  on  the 
part  of  the  Holy  See  in  our  festivities  will  be  to  us  an  earnest  of 
fresh  benedictions,  and  will,  I hope,  impart  some  consolation  to 
Your  Holiness  amid  the  afflictions  by  which  you  are  encompassed. 

Deign,  Most  Holy  Father,  to  accept  the  homage  of  the  most 
profound  respect  of  your  humble  and  obedient  servant  and  son, 

J.  Card.  Gibbons, 
Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

The  following  is  the  text  of  the  letter  sent  by  the  Pope  to  His 
Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons  by  the  hands  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Mgr. 
O’Connell,  Rector  of  the  American  College  at  Rome  with  regard 
to  the  Catholic  Centennial  celebration : 

To  our  beloved  Son,  John  Gibbons,  of  the  Title  of  St.  Mary 
Beyond  the  Tiber,  Cardinal  Priest  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

Beloved  Son,  Health  and  Apostolic  Benediction — That  great 


love  for  country  and  religion  which  you  and  our  brethren,  the 
bishops  of  the  United  States  of  America,  have  so  often  and  so  nobly 
manifested  is  again  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  letter  which  you  have 
recently  addressed  to  us.  From  it  we  learn  that  pastors  and  people 
are  about  to  assemble  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  to  celebrate  the  one 
huudreth  anniversary  of  the  establishment  of  the  sacred  hierarchy 
in  the  United  States. 

On  the  same  occasion  you  propose  to  dedicate  the  Catholic 
University,  which,  with  the  generous  help  of  the  faithful,  you  have 
founded  in  the  city  of  Washington,  as  a happy  presage  of  future 
greatness  for  the  new  era  upon  which  you  are  about  to  enter. 

It  is  truly  worthy  of  your  faith  and  piety  thus  gratefully  to 
recall  the  blessings  bestowed  upon  your  country  by  divine  Provi- 
dence, and,  at  the  same  time,  to  raise  up  in  memory  of  them  a mon- 
ument which  will  be  an  honor  to  yourselves  and  a lasting  benefit  to 
3'our  fellow-citizens  and  to  the  country  at  large.  And,  therefore,  we 
gladly  unite  with  you  in  returning  thanks  to  God,  the  author  of  all 
gifts.  At  the  same  time  we  cordially  congratulate  you  on  the  zeal 
with  which  you  emulate  the  example  of  your  glorious  predecessors, 
faithfully  treading  in  their  footsteps,  while  ever  widening  the  field 
opened  by  their  apostolic  labors. 

Most  joyfully  have  we  welcomed  the  expression  which  you, 
beloved  son,  and  the  other  bishops  convey  to  us  of  your  loyalty  and 
devotion  to  the  apostolic  see.  We  desire,  in  return,  to  assure  you 
that,  like  our  predecessors  of  beloved  memory,  we,  too,  bear  an  espe- 
cial love  toward  you,  our  brethren,  and  the  faithful  committed  to 
your  care,  and  that  we  pray  fervently  for  your  prosperity  and  wel- 
fare, gathering  comfort  meanwhile  no  less  from  the  readiness  of  your 
people  to  co-operate  in  all  manner  of  good  works  than  from  the 
examples  of  sacerdotal  virtue  which  are  daily  set  before  them. 

In  regard  to  your  wish  that  some  representatives  from  this  city 
should,  in  our  name,  be  present  at  your  celebration,  we  readily 
assent  to  it  — the  more  willingly  because  their  presence  will  be  an 
especial  mark,  both  of  our  esteem  and  benevolence,  and  of  that  bond 
of  faith  and  charity  which  unites  pastors  and  people  to  the  Supreme 
Head  of  the  Church. 

In  conclusion  we  earnestly  pray  to  God,  the  protector  and  guar- 
dian of  the  Catholic  cause,  that  under  the  prosperous  and  favored 
public  institutions  by  which  you  are  enabled  to  exercise  with  free- 
dom your  sacred  ministry,  your  labors  may  redound  to  the  benefit 
of  church  and  country.  And  as  a pledge  of  our  special  affection 
we  lovingly  impart  the  apostolic  benediction  to  you,  beloved  son, 
to  our  venerable  brethren,  the  bishops  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, and  to  all  the  clergy  and  faithful  committed  to  your  charge. 

Given  at  Rome  at  St.  Peter’s,  the  17th  day  of  September,  A. 
D.,  1889,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  our  pontificate. 

LEO  PP.  XIII. 


PASTORAL  LETTER 

OF 

HIS  EMINENCE,  CARDINAL  GIBBONS, 

ON  THE 

Celebration  of  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Establishment  of  the 

Catholic  Hierarchy  in  the  United  States. 


James,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  by  the  grace  of  God  and  favor  of 
the  Apostolic  See,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  to  the  Clergy 
and  Laity  of  the  archdiocese,  health  and  benediction  of  the 
Lord. 

Dearly  Beloved  Brethren  and  Children  in  Christ  : 
On  the  6th  of  November,  1789,  His  Holiness  Pius  VI  issued  a bull 
creating  the  hierarchy  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States 
and  appointing  the  Rev.  John  Carroll  the  first  bishop  of  Baltimore, 
whose  episcopal  jurisdiction  extended  over  all  the  territory  then  com- 
prised in  the  federal  Union. 

He  was  consecrated  in  the  chapel  of  Lulw'orth  Castle,  in  England, 
by  the  venerable  Bishop  Walmesley,  Vicar  Apostolic  of  the  London 
district,  on  the  15th  of  August,  1790,  and  soon  afterwards  he  set  out 
for  Baltimore,  where  he  arrived  on  the  7 th  of  December.  After 
occupying  this  see  for  a quarter  of  a century  he  died  full  of  years 
and  merits  December  3,  1815,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age. 

The  history  of  Archbishop  Carroll’s  administration  clearly 
shows  that  his  appointment  was  not  only  a wise  and  judicious,  but 
an  especially  providential  one.  Gifted  by  nature  with  talents  of  a 
high  order,  he  improved  and  developed  those  talents  by  a long 
course  of  studies  in  one  of  the  best  colleges  in  Europe,  and  even 
among  the  brilliant  scholars  of  St.  Omer’s  he  won  a high  reputation 
for  learning. 

Archbishop  Carroll  united  in  his  person  the  triple  character  ot 
an  ardent  patriot,  a zealous  prelate  and  an  accomplished  Christian 
gentleman.  His  devotion  to  his  country’s  cause  gained  for  him  the 
confidence  of  the  revolutionary  leaders ; his  apostolic  labors  com- 
manded the  love  and  veneration  of  the  faithful,  and  his  benevolent 
disposition  and  gentle  manners  won  the  hearts  of  all  his  fellow-citi- 
zens with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 

Living  in  the  midst  of  the  revolution,  animated  by  its  spirit 
and  zealous  for  its  triumph,  so  strong  was  the  trust  reposed  in  his 
loyalty  and  judgment  that  he  was  commissioned  by  the  Continental 
Congress  to  accompany  his  friend,  Benjamin  Franklin,  his  cousin, 
Charles  Carroll,  and  Samuel  Chase  on  a delicate  and  important  mis- 
sion to  Canada. 

The  Catholic  religion  subsists  and  expands  under  all  forms  ol 
government  and  adapts  itself  to  all  times  and  places  and  circum- 
stances ; and  this  she  does  without  any  compromise  of  principle  or 
any  derogation  from  the  supreme  authority  of  the  church  or  any 
shock  to  the  individual  conscience.  For,  while  the  truths  of  faith 


are  eternal  and  immutable,  the  discipline  of  the  church  is  change- 
able, just  as  man  himself  is  ever  the  same  in  his  essential  character- 
istics, while  his  dress  varies  according  to  the  fashion  of  the  times. 

Archbishop  Carroll  was  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  genius 
of  our  political  constitution  and  with  the  spirit  of  our  laws  and  system 
of  government.  He  was  therefore  admirably  fitted  for  the  delicate 
task  of  adjusting  the  discipline  of  the  church  to  the  requirements 
of  our  civil  constitution. 

The  calm  judgment  of  posterity  recognizes  John  Carroll  as  a 
providential  agent  in  molding  the  diverse  elements  in  the  United 
States  into  an  organized  church.  He  did  not  wish  the  church  to 
vegetate  as  a delicate  exotic  plant ; he  wished  it  to  become  a sturdy 
tree,  deep-rooted  in  the  soil,  to  grow  with  the  growth  and  bloom 
with  the  development  of  the  country,  inured  to  its  climate,  braving 
its  storms  and  invigorated  by  them,  and  yielding  abundantly  the 
fruits  of  sanctification. 

Knowing  as  he  did  the  mischief  bred  by  national  rivalries,  his 
aim  was  that  the  clergy  and  people,  no  matter  from  what  country 
they  sprung,  should  be  thoroughly  identified  with  the  land  in  which 
their  lot  was  cast,  that  they  should  study  its  laws  and  political  con- 
stitution, and  be  in  harmony  with  its  spirit ; in  a word,  that  they 
should  become  as  soon  as  possible  assimilated  to  the  social  body  in 
all  things  appertaining  to  the  domain  of  civil  life. 

The  more  we  study  his  life  the  more  is  our  admiration  for  this 
great  prelate  enhanced. 

His  “ solicitude  for  all  the  churches,”  his  anxiety  to  provide 
priests  for  the  widely  extended  missions,  his  personal  visitation  of 
the  scattered  members  of  his  flock,  his  privations  and  fatigues,  his 
efforts  to  heal  dissensions,  to  allay  disputes,  and  to  avert  schisms, 
his  earnest,  though  well  tempered  vindication  of  the  Catholic  relig- 
ion against  the  misrepresentations  of  her  assailants  — how  vividly 
these  complex  labors  of  the  archbishop  recall  the  trials  and  vicissi- 
tudes of  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  as  portrayed  by  himself:  ‘ ‘In 
journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  rivers,  perils  in  the  city,  perils  in  the 
wilderness,  perils  in  the  sea,  perils  from  false  brethren  ; in  labor  and 
distress,  in  watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  cold  and  naked- 
ness, besides  the  things  that  are  without ; my  daily  charge,  the  care 
of  all  the  churches”  ! (II  Cor.  xi.) 

But  while  assiduous  in  the  care  of  his  own  flock,  Archbishop 
Carroll  never  forgot  the  duties  of  Christian  charity  he  owed  to  those 
who  were  not  of  the  household  of  the  faith.  His  social  relations 


PASTORAL  LETTER. 


xv 


with  the  Protestant  clergy  and  laity  of  Baltimore  were  of  a most 
friendly  and  cordial  character.  The  veneration  in  which  he  was 
held  by  all  his  fellow-citizens  was  amply  attested  by  the  uniform 
marks  of  respect  exhibited  towards  him  during  his  long  administra- 
tion, and  particularly  by  the  genuine  outpouring  of  grief  and  the 
warm  tributes  of  affection  paid  to  his  memory  at 
the  close  of  his  earthly  career. 

On  Sunday,  the  ioth  of  November 
next,  and  on  the  two  days  following, 
the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  establishment  of  the  Catholic 
hierarchy  in  the  United  States 
will  be  celebrated  in  Baltimore 
with  appropriate  religious 
and  civic  festivities.  We 
cannot,  dearly  beloved 
brethren,  take’ a retro- 
spective view  of  that 
memorable  event,  and 
of  the  century  now 
drawing  to  a close, 
without  mingled 
feelings  of  grati- 
tude to  God  for 
the  wonder- 
ful things  He 
has  wrought 
through  His 
servants  who 
have  gone  be- 
fore us  and 
rest  from  their 
labors,  and  also 
of  a profound 
sense  of  the  re- 
sponsibility 
that  devolves 
upon  hs  to  emu- 
late the  virtues 
of  our  fathers  in 
faith. 

When  Bishop 
Carroll  was  conse- 
crated, in  1790,  the 
entire  population  of 
the  United  States  was 
a little  less  than  four  mill- 
ions, free  men  and  slaves 
included.  The  Catholic  popu- 
lation was  estimated  at  about 
forty  thousand.  A small  but 
heroic  band  of  thirty  priests, 
almost  exclusively  belonging 
to  the  Society  of  Jesus,  minis- 
tered to  this  scattered  flock. 

There  was  not  a single  hospital 
or  asylum  throughout  the  land. 

Churches  there  were  none,  un- 
less we  designate  by  that  title 
the  few  modest  houses  of  worship  erected  in  Catholic  settlements, 
chiefly  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  Georgetown  College,  just 
then  founded,  was  the  only  Catholic  seat  of  learning  in  the  country. 

Such  is  a true  picture  of  the  past.  Uet  us  now  glance  at  the 
present.  Thanks  to  the  blessings  of  an  overruling  Providence  and 
to  the  beneficent  character  of  our  civil  and  political  institutions,  the 
population  of  the  United  States  has  grown  within  a century  from 


four  to  sixty-five  millions  of  people,  as  happy  and  contented  as  any 
that  move  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

And  thanks  to  the  fructifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
to  the  liberty  we  enjoy,  the  progress  of  the  church  has  more  than 
kept  pace  with  the  material  development  of  the  country.  There  is 
now  embraced  within  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  a Catholic  population  of  about  nine  mill- 
ions. There  are  13  archbishops  and  7j 
bishops,  8,000  priests,  10,500  churches 
and  chapels,  27  seminaries  exclu- 
sively devoted  to  the  training  of 
candidates  for  the  sacred  minis- 
try. There  are  650  colleges 
and  academies  for  the  higher 
education  of  youth  of  both 
sexes,  and  3,100  parish 
schools.  There  are  520 
hospitals  and  orphan 
asylums,  where  every 
form  of  human  mis- 
ery and  infirmity  is 
alleviated  and 
where  children  of 
both  sexes  are 
rescued  from 
spiritual  and 
temporal 
wretchedness, 
and  are  reared 
to  become  use- 
ful and  honor- 
able members 
of  society. 

But  while 
we  rejoice  in 
the  numerical 
strength  of  the 
Catholic  relig- 
ion, we  rejoice 
still  more  that  far 
from  betraying 
any  symptoms  of 
religious  torpor,  still 
less  of  decay  and  dis- 
solution, the  church 
exhibits  an  organic 
vitality,  an  exuberant 
spirit,  a vigorous  activity 
and  a sturdy  growth  which 
afford  a well  founded  hope  of 
unlimited  expansion  in  the 
future. 

We  rejoice  also  that  the 
episcopate  and  clergy  have  not 
only  been  greatly  multiplied, 
but  that  they  are  bound  to  one 
another  by  the  ties  of  a com- 
mon faith,  hope,  and  charity, 
having  “one  Lord,  one  faith, 
one  baptism,  one  God  and  father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and 
through  all  and  in  us  all.”  (Ephesians  iv.) 

We  rejoice,  moreover,  in  the  cordial  and  happy  relations  which 
subsist  between  the  clergy  and  the  faithful  committed  to  their 
charge,  that  the  clergy  are  ever  ready  to  consecrate  to  the  service  of 
their  flocks  their  time  and  talents  and  daily  ministration,  and  to 
pour  out  their  life’s  blood  if  necessary,  and  that  they  receive  in 


Most  Rev.  JOHN  CARROLL,  D.  D.,  First  archbishop  of  Baltimore. 

Born  at  Upper  Marlborough,  Maryland,  January  5.  1735;  Ordained,  1769;  Consecrated, 

August  15,  1790;  Created  Archbishop,  April  8,  1808;  Died,  December  3,  1815. 


XVI 


PASTORAL  LETTER. 


return  the  reverence,  the  filial  love,  and  the  free-will  offerings  of  a 
grateful  and  devoted  people.  If  the  world  understood  the  sacred 
and  tender  ties  of  charity  that  bind  the  pastor  to  his  spiritual  chil- 
dren, it  would  never  confound  filial  obedience  and  respect  with 
servile  fear,  for  “perfect  love  casteth  out  fear.”  (I  John  iv.  18.) 
And  we  are  persuaded  that  this  mutual  affection  and  confidence 
existing  between  the  clergy  and  the  people  is  quickened  and  fostered 
by  the  system  of  voluntary  contributions  that  obtains  among  us. 

But  we  rejoice  in  the  growth  of  the  Catholic  religion,  not  for 
our  own  sakes  only;  for  that  would  be  a narrow  and  selfish  satisfac- 
tion. Our  joy  rests  on  broader  grounds.  We  rejoice  for  our  country’s 
sake,  firmly  believing  that  the  progress  of  Christian  faith  will  con- 
tribute to  the  stability  and  perpetuity  of  the  government.  In  this 
country  the  citizen  happily  enjoys  the  broadest  exercise  of  personal 
freedom.  But  the  wider  the  scope  of  liberty  the  more  efficient 
should  be  the  safeguards  to  pre- 
vent it  from  being  abused,  and  de- 
generating into  license.  The 
Catholic  Church  is  the  friend  of 
law  and  order;  she  is  the  upholder 
of  legitimate  authority;  she  is  the 
stern  opponent  of  anarchy  on  the 
one  hand,  and  of  oppression  on 
the  other,  and  by  her  conserva- 
tive spirit  she  is  an  element  of 
strength  to  the  nation.  Indeed, 
to  proclaim  loyalty  to  a govern- 
ment like  ours  is,  as  it  ought  to 
be,  a spontaneous  act  of  love, 
as  well  as  a duty  to  all  who 
preach  the  Gospel.  For  if  in  the  days  of  Nero  the  apostles  com- 
manded that  the  ruler  should  be  honored  and  prayed  for,  and  that 
his  ordinances  should  be  observed  (I  Tim.  ii.;  I Peter  ii),  with 
what  alacrity  should  we  enjoin  respect  for  the  constituted  authorities 
who  are  the  people’s  own  choice,  and  should  we  inculcate  obedience 
to  the  laws  which  were  framed  with  the  sole  view  of  promoting  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  the  community  ? 

The  due  observance  of  the  coming  centennial  requires  of  us  that 
we  should  not  only  thank  God  for  the  great  things  wrought  by  our 
fathers,  but  that  we  should  recognize  the  obligations  incumbent  on 
us  in  our  day  and  generation.  Let  us  not  boastingly  say  with  the 
Jews,  “We  are  the  seed  of  Abraham.”  “If  ye  are  the  children  of 
Abraham,”  says  our  Lord,  “do  the  works  of  Abraham.”  (John 
viii.)  It  was  no  extenuation,  but  rather  an  aggravation,  of  the 
crime  of  those  who  crucified  our  Saviour  that  they  vaunted  in  being 
the  descendants  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  J&cob.  And  our  lack  of  faith 
and  zeal  would  be  all  the  more  reprehensible,  since  we  have  before 
our  eyes  the  examples  of  a Carroll,  a Cheverus,  a Flaget,  a Hughes, 
an  England,  and  “so  great  a cloud  of  witnesses.”  The  civic  and 
moral  virtues  of  past  generations  will  not  redound  to  our  glory,  but 
rather  will  be  a reproach  to  us  if  we  have  no  share  in  their  patriotism 
and  piety.  In  vain  we  praise  their  heroic  deeds  if  we  do  not  strive 
to  emulate  them,  for  God  will  not  be  content  with  a vicarious  fealty. 

We  have  indeed  the  divine  assurance  that  His  church  shall 
never  fail,  but  He  ordinarily  works  His  wonders  through  secondary 
agents,  and  we  should  all  regard  ourselves  as  included  among  the 
providential  instruments  He  has  chosen  for  the  fulfilment  of  His 
decrees.  We  have  entered  into  an  inheritance  not  simply  to  enjoy 
it,  but  to  cultivate  it  and  enlarge  its  bounds.  And  if  the  patriarch 
of  the  American  church  and  his  small  band  of  pioneers  accomplished 
so  much  with  their  limited  means  after  they  had  emerged  from  the 


dark  night  of  bondage,  and  while  they  were  yet  more  or  less  ham- 
pered by  civil  and  religious  disabilities,  how  much  more  should  be 
expected  of  us  with  our  multiplied  numbers  and  resources,  and  bask- 
ing as  we  are  in  the  noonday  sun  of  liberty.  Let  us  then,  like  our 
forefathers,  leave  behind  us  monuments  of  faith  and  good  works  to 
which  posterity  will  point  with  pride  when  they  are  called  together  to 
commemorate  the  second  centennial  of  our  country’s  history. 

We  hail  it  as  an  auspicious  omen  that  the  new  century  will  be 
inaugurated  by  the  opening  of  the  Catholic  University,  just  as  the 
closing  century  was  ushered  in  by  the  founding  of  Georgetown  Col- 
lege. And  as  Pius  VI  gave  an  impetus  to  religion  in  1789  by  the 
creation  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  among  us,  so  does  L'-o  XIII  in- 
spire us  with  renewed  hope  in  1889  by  giving  his  august  sanction  to 
the  establishment  of  our  national  seat  of  learning.  Thus  Pius  has 
planted,  Leo  has  watered:  may  God  give  the  increase.  (I  Cor.  iii.  6.) 

And  we  have  the  firm  trust,  dearly  beloved  brethren,  that  our 
Lord  will  deign  to  ratify  the  blessing  of  Leo,  as  He  has  abundantly 
confirmed  the  blessing  of  Pius;  for  those  two  venerable  pontiff's  have 
spoken  as  the  highest  representatives  of  Him  who  “was  made  flesh, 
and  dwelt  among  us,”  whose  name  across  the  chasm  of  nineteen 
centuries  is  a living  power,  and  who  is  daily  shedding  benedictions 
on  the  nations  that  invoke  Him. 

We  take  great  pleasure  in  announcing  to  you  that  a benevolent 
interest  in  the  approaching  celebration  is  manifested  by  the  hierarchy 
and  laity  of  the  United  States,  and  even  of  those  of  other  lands. 
Seventy-three  archbishops  and  bishops  have  already  signified  their 
intention  of  honoring  us  by  their  presence.  Nearly  every  state  and 
territory  of  the  Union  will  be  represented  on  the  occasion.  A large 
number  of  Canadian  prelates  have  also  promised  to  attend,  among 
whom  I am  happy  to  name  His  Eminence  the  Cardinal  Archbishop 
of  Quebec.  Even  our  sister  republic  of  Mexico  will  be  represented 
by  two  or  more  prelates. 

In  a letter  lately  received,  the  Soverign  Pontiff  expresses  his 
gracious  intention  of  sending  a church  dignitary  from  Rome  to 
represent  the  Holy  See  at  the  Baltimore  and  Washington  festivities. 
The  archbishop  commissioned  by  the  Holy  Father  is  not  only  an 
eminent  divine,  but  is  honored  with  the  personal  friendship  of  His 
Holiness  himself. 

Our  acquaintance  with  the  public  spirit  of  Baltimore  leaves 
little  doubt  on  our  mind  thit  our  fellow-citizens,  irrespective  of  faith, 
will  add  to  our  joy  by  sharing  in  it,  and  that  they  will  welcome 
those  distinguished  visitors  with  that  genuine  warmth  and  fellow- 
ship for  which  they  are  so  conspicuous.  We  are  also  assured  that 
the  clergy  and  private  families  will  feel  honored,  as  they  have  on 
previous  occasions,  in  entertaining  the  prelates  who  may  accept  their 
hospitality.  Let  all  of  us  eagerly  unite  in  contributing  to  the  com- 
fort and  enjoyment  of  the  visiting  prelates  and  clergy  and  the  dele- 
gates to  the  Catholic  Congress,  so  that  they  may  return  to  their  homes 
with  pleasant  memories  of  Baltimore  and  its  people,  and  with  edify- 
ing impressions  of  the  festive  scenes  in  which  they  will  have  par- 
ticipated. 

As  an  expression  of  our  gratitude  to  God  for  past  favors  and  to 
invoke  His  merciful  benediction  on  our  country  for  the  years  to  come, 
the  clergy  of  the  archdiocese  are  directed  to  recite  the  Thanksgiving 
Collect  (pro  gratianun  adione)  during  the  next  month  of  November 
on  all  days  permitted  by  the  rubrics. 

The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  God  and 
the  communication  of  the  Holy  Spirit  be  with  you  all.  Amen. 

Given  at  Baltimore  on  the  8th  day  of  October,  1889. 

JAMES  CARDINAL  GIBBONS. 


THE  CALL  FOR  A GENERAL  CONGRESS 


OF  THE 


Catholic  Laity  of  the  United  States. 


To  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States: 

The  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  establishment  of  the  Cath- 
olic hierarchy  of  the  United  States,  which  is  to  be  celebrated  with 
befitting  pomp  and  ceremony  under  happy  auspices  in  Baltimore, 
next  November,  may  naturally  be  expected  to  bring  together  an 
imposing  assemblage  of  the  hierarchy  and  clergy,  as  well  as  a large 
concourse  of  the  Catholic  laity,  who  will  be  eager  to  take  part  in  an 
event  so  interesting  in  itself,  and  so  impressive  and  suggestive  in  its 
religious  and  historic  significance. 

That  the  Catholic  laymen  of  the  United  States  should  hold,  at 
the  same  time  and  place,  a general  meeting  or  congress  would  seem 
most  appropriate.  When  the  suggestion  of  such  a meeting  was 
happily  conceived  and  put  forth,  it  was  everywhere  met  with  ex- 
pressions of  warm  approval.  It  was  felt  that  a congress  of  the 
Catholics  of  the  United  States,  called  without  reference  to  national 
or  local  lines,  on  a broad  and  generous  platform,  could  not  fail  to 
be  productive  of  good  results. 

It  would  demonstrate  the  union  of  the  entire  Catholic  body  in 
all  that  concerns  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion  ; the  harmony, 
mutual  attachment,  and  good  will  subsisting  among  the  different 
orders  in  the  church — the  hierarchy,  the  clergy,  and  the  laity — and 
it  would  moreover  afford  an  opportunity  to  test  in  a public  manner, 
the  loyalty  of  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  to  the  constitution 
and  laws  of  the  land,  to  which  they  have  invariably  been  loyal  in 
the  past,  and  may,  with  equal  confidence,  be  relied  on  to  be  faithful 
and  devoted  in  the  future.  The  advantages  of  such  a meeting  then 
being  apparent,  and  its  opportuneness  most  evident,  there  was  only 
required  the  sanction  of  authority  to  justify  the  call  for  a general 
congress  of  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States. 

We  are  happy  to  say  the  project  of  this  congress  has  the  ap- 
proval of  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons,  and  of  other  archbish- 
ops and  bishops. 

The  preliminaries  have  been  arranged,  and  the  congress  is  now 
accordingly  called  to  meet  in  the  city  of  Baltimore,  Monday,  No- 
vember ii,  at  io  o’clock  A.  M.  It  is  expected  that  the  sessions 
will  continue  during  two  days.  The  local  arrangements  for  the 
congress  are  in  charge  of  a committee  of  Baltimore  gentlemen. 

The  principal  subjects  for  consideration  and  discussion  have 
been  substantially  agreed  on,  and  capable  gentlemen  have  been 
invited  to  read  papers  before  the  congress  on  the  topics  proposed  to 
them.  General  discussion  of  these  questions  will  be  invited,  and 
the  titles  of  the  several  papers  will  be  duly  announced  beforehand. 
The  congress  is  intended  to  be  free  and  open  to  all  Catholics. 

To  provide  for  due  order  and  so  that  necessary  regulations  shall 
prevail,  as  well  as  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  general  representa- 
tion from  all  parts  of  the  country,  it  has  been  decided  by  the  com- 
mittee in  charge,  to  issue  cards  of  admission  to  the  floor  of  the  hall, 
which  cards  will  entitle  the  person  named  thereon  to  the  full  privi- 
leges of  the  congress.  These  cards  will  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  bishop  or  administrator  of  each  diocese.  Catholics  who  desire 


to  attend  the  congress  will  make  application  accordingly  to  the 
ordinary  of  their  diocese  for  the  necessary  introduction. 

Coincidently  with  the  celebration  of  the  Catholic  centennial 
and  the  meeting  of  the  Catholic  congress,  will  occur  the  formal 
opening  of  the  Catholic  University  of  America,  at  Washington,  an 
institution  in  which  the  Catholic  laity  of  the  United  States  feel  the 
deepest  concern,  and  to  the  future  of  which  they  look  with  hope  and 
pride.  This  event  would  in  itself  be  of  sufficient  general  importance 
to  bring  together  a large  number  of  leading  Catholic  laymen,  who 
have  already  signally  demonstrated  their  interest  in  this  great 
undertaking. 

The  meeting  of  the  Catholic  congress,  therefore,  under  the 
conditions  proposed,  will  be  seen  to  be  in  every  respect  timely.  The 
result  of  the  meeting  and  the  effect  of  the  deliberations  and  discus- 
sions cannot  but  prove  most  useful  and  beneficial  in  every  respect. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  lately  celebrated  by  appropri- 
ate religious  and  public  services,  amid  universal  rejoicing,  the 
centenary  of  the  formal  establishment  of  our  free  government. 
Catholics  justly  shared  in  the  general  joy,  as  they  have  likewise 
participated  in  the  advantages  our  admirable  constitution  guarantees 
to  all  citizens,  especially  the  precious  boon  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty, the  seed  of  which  was  first  planted  and  nourished  in  “Catholic 
Maryland.” 

With  eminent  fitness,  therefore,  may  we  now  call  our  Catholic 
brethren  together  to  join  in  celebrating  another  anniversary  of 
exceptional  interest;  to  recall  the  memory  of  the  devoted  and  patri- 
otic bishop  whose  zeal  for  religion  and  love  of  liberty  have  won  for 
his  memory  the  respect  and  admiration  of  every  American;  to  testify 
the  unity  of  their  religious  faith,  their  steadfast  adherence  to  true 
principles,  and  their  unwavering  attachment  to  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  this  free  and  prosperous  country. 

[Signed]  William  J.  Onahan,  Chicago,  Chairman , 

Henry  J.  Spaunhorst,  St.  Louis, 

Chicago  July  ji,  1889.  Daniel  A.  Rudd,  Cincinnati, 

Committee  on  Organization  of  the  Catholic  Congress. 


Henry  F.  Brownson,  Detroit. 
M.  W.  O’Brien, 

Joseph  B.  Moore, 

William  H.  Hughes,  “ 

John  Hyde, 

J.  P.  FlEitz, 

Peter  L.  Foy,  St.  Louis. 
Louis  Fusz, 

Maurice  F.  Egan,  Notre  Dame. 
Chas.  A.  Hardy,  Philadelphia. 
Patrick  Donahoe,  Boston. 
Thos.  Dwight,  M.  D.,  “ 

Chas.  F.  Donnelly, 

Hasket  Derby, 

George  W.  Smith,  Chicago. 

W.  P.  Rend, 

Peter  Kiolbassa, 

James  Armstrong,  “ 

T.  J.  Semmes,  New  Orleans. 
William  L.  Kelly,  St.  Paul. 


Henry  L.  Hoguet,  New  York. 
Eugene  Kelly, 

John  D.  Keiley,  Jr.,  “ 
Patrick  Farrell y,  “ 

John  Gilmary  Shea,  “ 

Louis  Benziger,  “ 

Lawrence  Kehoe,  “ 

Louis  Ernst, 

Patrick  Poland,  Cincinnati. 

C.  A.  MUELLER,  Cleveland. 
Joseph  Ranft,  “ 

Manly  Tello, 

M.  J.  Harson,  Providence. 
Martin  Neuhaeusel,  Toledo. 
Edward  O’Neil,  Milwaukee. 
James  H.  Dormer,  Buffalo. 
John  Lawler,  Prairie  du  Chien. 
Chas.  J.  Bonaparte,  Baltimore. 
Daniel  J.  Foley, 

John  A.  Creighton,  Omaha. 


Rt.  Rev.  H.  P.  Northrop,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Charleston,  S.  C. 


Rt.  Rev.  A.  Van  de  Vyver,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Richmond,  Va. 


Rt.  Rev.  John  Moore,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  St,  Augustine,  Fla. 


Rt.  Rev.  Thos.  A.  Becker,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Savannah,  Ga. 


Rt.  Rev.  Leo  Haid,  D.  D., 
Vicar- Apostolic  of  North  Carolina. 


The  Centenary  Celebration 


The  celebration  of  the  centenary  of  the  Hierarchy  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  will  long  be 
remembered  not  only  by  the  residents  of  the  metropolis  of  the  state 
where  the  church  was  cradled  in  this  country,  but  by  the  thousands 
of  persons  who  spent  nearly  a week  in  Baltimore  and  Washington 
participating  in  the  ceremonies,  festivities,  and  sessions  of  the  first 
Catholic  Congress  in  this  country.  Not  only  the  United  States 
were  represented  in  the  gathering,  but  also  Canada,  Mexico,  Eng- 
land, France,  and  the  Vatican,  and  from  many  distinguished  pre- 
lates, who  were  prevented  from  being  present,  came  divers  messages 
and  greetings  of  congratulation,  cordiality,  love,  and  best  wishes. 

Beginning  at  half  past  six  o’clock  Saturday  evening,  November 
9,  with  glad  peals  from  the  bells  of  all  the  Catholic  churches  in  the 
archdiocese,  their  sounds  calling  all  to  worship  from  Mason  and  Dix- 
on’s line  to  the  Potomac,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Alleghanies,  the 
celebration,  continuing  in  varying  features  until  Thursday  evening, 
November  14, was  the  greatest  of  its  kind  ever  held  in  this  country. 

From  Sunday  dawn  until  nearly  midnight  the  faithful  were  ab- 
sorbed in  the  doings  of  what  was  really  the  first  day.  These  in- 
cluded Solemn  Pontifical  Mass  at  the  Cathedral  with  a sermon  by 
the  most  Rev.  Archbishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  a gathering  in  the 
afternoon  of  all  the  prelates  and  priests,  at  St.  Mary’s  Seminary,  and 
Solemn  Pontifical  Vespers  at  night,  in  the  Cathedral,  with  a stirring 
sermon  by  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Ireland,  of  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

At  an  early  hour  in  the 
morning  the  faithful  flocked  from 
all  parts  of  the  city  to  the  Cathe- 
dral and  there  sought  to  gain 
entrance.  As  the  capacity  of 
that  venerable  structure  is  lim- 
ited to  about  two  thousand  five 
hundred  persons,  the  vast  major- 
ity had  to  remain  outside.  But 
they  enjoyed  the  procession 
which  preceded  the  ceremonies, 
and  standing  near  the  doors  or 
windows,  caught  now  and  then 
the  sweet  strains  of  music,  or  bits 
of  eloquence  from  the  speaker. 

Persons  having  tickets  were 
shown  to  seats  in  the  pews  by 
a large  body  of  ushers  dressed 
in  evening  costume,  and  when 
at  eleven  o’clock  the  head  of  the 
procession  appeared  at  the  main 
door  every  seat  in  the  Cathedral 
pews  was  occupied. 

The  procession  of  priests  and  seminarians  and  students  formed 
at  Calvert  Hall,  on  Saratoga  street,  on  the  site  of  the  former  pro- 
Cathedral,  St.  Peter’s  church,  and  through  files  of  humanity  in- 
closed in  lines  of  members  of  the  Catholic  Benevolent  Union,  the 
Young  Catholics’  Friend  Society,  and  Knights  of  St.  Ladislaus, 


marched  by  way  of  Saratoga  street  to  Charles  street,  to  the  front  of 
the  Cardinal’s  residence,  where  the  prelates  joined  them,  and  by 
Franklin  street  and  Cathedral  street  into  the  Cathedral.  The  ad- 
vance Guard  of  Honor  consisted  of  Dr.  William  Fee,  Bart  E.  Smith, 

S.  I.  Kemp,  Michael  Albert,  E.  J.  Codd,  Dr.  John  R.  Goldsmith, 
Pierre  C.  Dugan,  Michael  Mullin,  G.  B.  Walcott,  William  H. 
Wheatley,  George  McCaffray,  George  Webb,  and  John  Donnelly, 
and  the  processional  cross-bearers  were  the  Seminarians,  Joseph 
Kelly,  James  Miles,  and  Edward  O’Reilly.  Of  students  of  St. 
Charles’  College  there  were  two  hundred  and  fifty  in  charge  of  Rev. 
Charles  Schrantz,  Augustus  Fonteneau,  H.  M.  Chapuis,  Rich- 
ard K.  Wakeham,  George  F.  Viger,  A.  P.  Bernard  and  C.  J.  Judge, 
and  the  seminarians  of  St.  Mary’s  numbered  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five.  Among  the  clergy  in  line,  from  all  parts  of  the  United 
States  and  abroad,  were  the  venerable  Edward  Sorin,  Superior  Gen- 
eral of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Cross,  Notre  Dame,  Ind.,  Rev. 
John  Joseph  Fedigan,  O.  S.  A.,  of  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.;  Rev.  Edward 
P.  Allen,  president  of  Mt.  St.  Mary’s  College,  Emmittsburg,  Md.; 
Rev.  T.  P.  McCabe,  O.  S.  B.,  Warwickshire,  Eng.;  V.  Rev.  Thos. 
Connolly,  V.  G.,  Carleton  N.  B.;  Rev.  D.  H.  Brennan,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.;  V.  Rev.  F.  A.  O'Brien,  Kalamazoo,  Mich.;  Rev.  Jas.  J.  Fitz- 
maurice,  Philadelphia,  Pa.;  Rev.  D.  T.  Cronin,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ; Rev. 

T.  Brosnahan  and  T.  J.  Mahoney,  Waltham,  Mass.;  Rev.  Pat’k  Leon- 
ard, Newark,  N.  J.;  Rev.  H.  Le  Due,  Bay  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  V.  Rev. 
Thos.  Rafter,  Bay  City,  Mich. ; Rev.  Win.  J.  Manning,  Youngstown, 

O.  ; Rev.  James  Henry,  Cincinnati,  O. ; Rev.  Edw.  A.  Kelly, 
Chicago,  111.;  Rev.  John  Flatley,  Cambridge,  Mass.;  Rev.  H.  W. 
Grimme,  Manistee,  Mich.;  Rev.  James  Nugent,  Liverpool,  Eng.; 
Rev.  Dr.  Cronin,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ; Rev.  P.  D.  Phelan,  Holyoke,  Mass.; 
Rev.  J.  B.  Galvin,  Boston;  Rev.  M.  C.  O’ Farrell  and  John  Larkin, 
New  York;  Rev.  John  J.  Fallon,  Boston;  Rev.  Thos.  C.  McGoldrick, 
St.  John’s,  N.  B.;  Rev.  A.  Tolton  (colored),  Quincy,  111.;  V.  Rev.  A. 
F.  Hewit,  D.  D.,  C.  S.  P.,  New  York;  Rev.  E.  Tunstal,  Salford,  Eng.; 
Rev.  J.  Rainer,  rector  St.  Francis’  Provincial  Seminary,  and  P. 
M.  Abbelen,  Milwaukee,  Wis. ; Rev.  A.  Murphy,  La  Crosse,  Wis. ; 
V.  Rev.  Thos.  S.  Byrne,  D.  D.,  president  St.  Mary’s  Seminary,  and 
the  Rev.  Patrick  H.  Cusack,  A.  Quatmann,  H.  Moeller,  D.  D., 
and  J.  Kennedy,  Cincinnati,  O.;  Rev.  F.  L.  Tobin,  D.  J.  Gallagher, 

D.  Kearney,  A.  Murphy,  L.  Werner,  Jas.  A.  Cosgrave,  and  Morgan 
Sheedy,  of  the  Diocese  of  Pittsburgh;  Rev.  J.  T.  O’Farrell,  Peters- 
burg, Va. ; V.  Rev.  P.  A.  Baart,  S.  T.  L. , Marshall,  Mich.;  Rev.  T. 

P.  McCabe,  Liverpool,  Eng.;  Rev.  John  Toomey,  Utica,  N.  Y. ; 
Rev.  John  B.  Salter,  New  York;  Rev.  D.  J.  and  William  O’Sullivan, 
Burlington,  Vt. ; Rev.  P.  O’Loughlin,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  Rev.  D.  Col- 
lins, Troy,  N.  Y. ; Rev.  P.  Burke,  Dubuque,  la. ; Rev.  O.  J.  Mc- 
Donald, St.  Louis,  Mo.;  Rev.  P.  F.  McCarthy,  Omaha,  Neb.;  Rev. 

E.  W.  Fowler,  Osage,  la.;  Rev.  Chas.  Crevier,  Indian  Orchard, 
Mass.;  Rev.  Wm.  Fennessey,  Marlboro,  Mass.;  Rev.  L.  W.  Dugast, 
Cohoes,  N.  Y. ; Rev.  P.  O.  La  Rose,  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y. ; Rev.  Jos. 
E.  Chevalier,  Manchester,  N.  H.;  Rev.  Frank  Henry,  Topeka, 
Kan.;  Rev.  H.  J.  Reany,  Mechanicstown,  Md. ; Rev.  P.  Corrigan. 
Hoboken,  N.  J.;  Rev.  N.  Charland,  Waterville,  Me.;  Rev.  P.  H.  J. 


2 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


Ryan,  Lowville,  N.  Y. ; Rev.  E.  Audran,  Jeffersonville,  Ind. ; Rev. 
Wm.  White,  Hammond,  Ind.;  Rev.  J.  P.  Hogan,  Lemont,  111.;  Rev. 
P.  H.  Beecham,  Baldwinsville,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  J.  E.  Deros,  Omaha, 
Neb. ; Rev.  J.  J.  Keane,  rector  Seminary  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  St. 
Paul,  Minn.;  V.  Rev.  Alex  Hughes,  C.  P.,  Cincinnati,  O.;  V.  Rev. 
Thos.  F.  Barry,  Bathurst,  N.  B.;  Rev.  John  Carter,  Petit  Roeher,  N. 
B. ; Rev.  J.  Edwards,  New  York;  Rev.  Jas.  O’ Boyle,  Brooklyn,  N. 
Y.;  V.  Rev.  Wm.  McNulty,  Paterson,  N.  J.;  Rev.  P.  Hennessy,  Jersey 
City;  Rev.  John  H.  Cushing,  Denver,  Colo.;  V.  Rev.  B.  J.  Keilley, 
V.  G.,  Atlanta,  Ga.;  Rev.  M.  J.  P.  Dempsey,  Detroit,  Mich.;  Rev. 
B.  G.  Soffers,  Monroe,  Mich.;  Rev.  W.  J.  Malaney,  Jackson,  Mich. 
V.  Rev.  D.  M.  J.  Dowling,  V.  G. ; Rev.  M.  J.  Fitzsimmons,  E.  J. 
Dunne,  Geo.  Blatter,  P.  J.  O'Connor,  D.  A.  Tighe,  E.  S.  Rivard, 
G.  Legris,  D.  J.  Riordan,  J.  J.  Groghan,  W.  A.  Horan,  J.  McCann, 
and  E.  A.  Murphy,  all  of  the  archdiocese  of  Chicago;  John  F.  Mul- 
laney,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. ; P.  A.  McKenna,  Marlboro,  Mass.;  T.  Mc- 
Millan, C.  S.  P.,  N.  Y.;  V.  Rev.  Wm.  Corby,  C.  S.  C.  and  T.  E. 
Walsh,  C.  S.  C.  Notre  Dame,  Ind. 

The  following  Jesuit  Fathers  were  in  attendance:  V.  Rev.  Jas. 
A.  Campbell,  S.  J.,  Provincial  of  the  New  York-  Maryland  Province;  V. 
Rev.  J.  P.  Frieden,  S.  J. , Provincial  of  Missouri;  V.  Rev.  Joseph  Sasia, 
S.  J.,  Superior  General  of  the  California  Mission;  V.  Rev.  J.  O. 
Shanahan,  S.  J.  Superior  General  of  the  New  Orleans  Mission;  V. 
Rev.  H.  Behrens,  S.  J.,  Superior  General  of  the  Buffalo  Mission; 
Rev.  David  A.  Merrick,  S.  J.,  N.  F.  McKinnon,  S.  J.,  R. 
Holaind,  S.  J.,  and  Thos.  Hughes,  S.  J.,  of  St.  Francis  Xavier’s 
College,  New  York  city.  Rev.  John  Scully,  S.  J.,  president  of 
Fordham  College;  Rev.  J.  H.  Richards,  S.  J.,  president,  and  J.  J. 
Murphy,  S.  J.,  of  Georgetown  College;  Rev.  F.  Smith,  S.  J.,  presi- 
dent, and  Father  Ryan,  S.  J.,  of  Loyola  College,  Baltimore;  Rev. 
P.  Cassidy,  S.  J.,  president,  and  D.  Lynch,  S.  J.,  of  St.  Peter’s 
College,  Jersey  City;  Rev.  W.  F.  Clarke,  S.  J.,  president,  and  E. 
Boone,  S.  J.,  of  Gonzaga  College,  Washington,  D.  C. ; Rev.  E.  Bren- 
nan, S.  J.,  Providence,  R.  I.;  Rev.  C.  Lancaster,  S.  J.,  Leonardstown, 
Md.;  Rev.  B.Villiger,  S.J.,  Philadelphia, Pa. ; Rev.  J.  A.  Morgan, S.J., 
Philadelpia;  Rev.  A.  Schapman,  president  St.  Xavier’s  College,  Cin- 
cinnati, O. ; Rev.  E.  J.Gleeson,  S.  J.,  president  St.  Louis  University,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.;  Rev.  M.  P.  Dowling,  S.  J.,  president  Detroit  College, 
Detroit,  Mich.;  Rev.  E.  A.  Higgins,  S.  J.,  president,  and  Rev.  F.  X. 
Schulak,  S.  J.,  W.  H.  Hill,  S.  J.,of  St.  Ignatius  College,  Chicago, 
111.;  Rev.  H.  J.  Votel,  S.  J.,  president  St.  Mary’s  College,  St. 
Mary’s,  Kan.;  Rev.  J.  O.  Connor,  S.  J.,  president,  and  Father 
Wolff,  S.  J.,  of  the  College  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  New 
Orleans,  La. ; Rev.  J.  Lonergan,  S.  J.,  president  of  Spring  Hill 
College,  Ala.;  Rev.  Petrus  O.  Racicot,  S.  J.,  S.  Brand,  S.  J.,  A.  Sa- 

betti,  S.  J.,  M.  O'Brien,  S.  J.,  Jas.  Smith,  S.  J.,  and  J.  T.  Hedrick, 

S.  J.,  Woodstock  College,  Md. ; Rev.  L.  Van  Gorp,  S.  J.,  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  Missions,  bringing  Chief  Joseph,  of  the  Flatheads, 
to  see  the  authorities  at  Washington  upon  Indian  affairs,  and  the 
Rev.  Father  Pirrick,  S.  J.,  of  the  Dakota  Missions,  with  Chief  White 
Feather,  of  the  Sioux  Indians,  for  the  same  purpose. 

Among  those  who  were  particularly  noted  by  the  large  crowd 
were  a number  of  members  of  the  Benedictine  and  Capuchin  orders. 
They  were  the  Rev.  Edmund  Tunstal,  of  England,  Bishop  Seidenbush, 
Rt.  Rev.  Innocent  Wolf,  Rt.  Rev.  Andrew  Hintenach,  V.  Rev.  Bon- 
aventure  Frey,  the  Rev.  T.  P.  McCabe,  O.  S.  B.,  and  Rev.  J.  F. 

Fedigan,  O.  S.  A.  The  Rev.  A.  Tolton,  the  only  colored  priest  in 

the  United  States  was  also  an  object  of  interest  to  many. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  and  V.  Rev.  Monsignori  were:  Rt.  Rev.  F. 
M.  Boff,  Cleveland;  De  Concilio,  Jersey  City;  Farley,  New  York; 
Gadd,  England;  Griffin,  Worcester;  Joos,  Monroe,  Mich;  Labelle, 
Quebec;  O’Connell,  Rome;  Preston,  New  York;  Quigley,  Charles- 
ton; Seton,  Jersey  City;  Strain,  Lynn;  Sullivan,  Wheeling;  Windt- 
horst,  Chillicothe;  Donnelly,  New  York;  Brennan,  Driftwood,  Pa. 
The  Rt.  Rev.  Bishops  were: 

American. — Bonacum,  Bourgade,  Bradley,  Brondel,  Burke, 


Chatard,  Conroy,  Cotter,  Curtis,  De  Goesbriand,  Durier,  Dwenger, 
Fink,  Fitzgerald,  Flasch,  Foley,  Gallagher,  Gilmour,  Glorieux, 
Harkins,  Healey, Hennessy  (Dubuque),  Hennessy  (Wichita),  Heslin, 
Janssen,  Junger,  Kain,  Katzer,  Keane,  Loughlin,  Ludden,  McGol- 
rick,  McGovern,  McMahon,  Maes,  Matz,  Moore,  Mullen,  Northrop, 
O’ Farrell,  O’Hara,  O’Reilly,  O’Sullivan,  Phelan,  Rademacher, 
Richter,  Ryan  (Alton),  Ryan  (Buffalo),  Scanlan,  Scannell,  Seiden- 
bush, Shanley,  Van  De  Vyver,  Vertin,  Wadhams,  Watterson, 
Wigger. 

Canadian. — Rt.  Rev.  E.  Gravel,  Nicolet,  P.  Q. ; Lafleche, 
Three  Rivers,  P.  Q.;  Lorrain,  Pembroke,  Ont.;  McIntyre,  Charlotte- 
town, P.  E.  I.;  Rogers,  Chatham,  N.  B.,  and  the  V.  Rev.  M.  F. 
Howley,  Prefect  Apostolic,  Newfoundland. 

Mexican. — Rt.  Rev.  Montes  De  Oca,  San  Luis  Potosi,  and  E. 
A.  Gillo. 

English. — Rt.  Rev.  John  Virtue,  Portsmouth,  England. 

The  Most  Rev.  Archbishops  were: 

American. — M.  A.  Corrigan,  New  York;  W.  H.  Elder,  Cincin- 
nati; W.  H.  Gross,  Portland,  Ore.;  Michael  Heiss,  Milwaukee; 
John  Ireland,  St.  Paul;  Francis  Janssens,  New  Orleans;  P.  W. 
Riordan,  San  Francisco;  P.  J.  Ryan,  Philadelphia;  John  B.  Salpointe, 
Santa  Fe;  John  J.  Williams,  Boston. 

Canadian. — H.  E.  Cardinal  Taschereau,  Quebec;  Most  Rev. 
J.  V.  Cleary,  Kingston;  T.  J.  Duhamel,  Ottawa;  E.  C.  Fabre, 
Montreal;  C.  O’Brien,  Halifax;  Alex.  Tache,  St.  Boniface;  John 
Walsh,  Toronto. 

Italian. — The  Most  Rev.  Francis  Satolli,  representing  His 
Holiness,  Pope  Leo  XIII. 

Cardinal  Gibbons  was  attended  by  Monsignori  McColgan 
and  O’Connell,  and  Cardinal  Taschereau  by  Monsignori  Paquet 
and  Marois,  and  a special  guard  for  them  were  the  Knights  of  St. 
Ladislaus,  who  carried  with  their  banner  the  United  States  flag. 

The  great  chorus,  backed  by 
orchestra  and  organ,  were  singing 
Asger  Hamerik’s  march  chorus 
as  the  procession  entered  the 
Cathedral.  While  the  immense 
congregation  stood,  the  seminar- 
ians took  their  places  about  the 
smaller  organ  in  the  rear  of  the 
sanctuary,  the  priests  opened 
their  lines  in  the  middle  aisle 
and  allowed  to  pass  between  them 
the  purple-robed  prelates  who 
had  places  within  the  sanctuary, 
the  two  Cardinals  who  occupied 
thrones  on  either  side  of  the  high 
altar,  and  the  Apostolic  delegate, 
Archbishop  Satolli,  who  had  a 
throne  draped  in  white  and  yel- 
low— the  papal  colors — on  the 
extreme  right  of  the  line  of  Bishops  and  Monsignori.  Then  when 
the  Mass  began,  the  interior  of  the  Cathedral  presented  a striking 
picture.  Before  the  altar,  almost  covered  by  fragrant  lilies,  roses,  and 
other  flowers,  and  lighted  with  innumerable  tapers,  stood  the  officers 
of  the  Mass  in  their  rich  golden  vestments.  Surrounding  them  were 
the  Bishops  and  Monsignori,  in  purple  and  crimson,  with  pectoral 
crosses  and  rings  flashing  with  jewels,  the  two  Cardinals  in  their 
brilliant  robes,  the  Vicars  General  and  heads  of  religious  institutions, 
some  of  them  wearing  the  quaint  garbs  of  Monastic  Orders,  the  at- 
tendant priests  who  had  walked  with  the  prelates,  the  little  train- 
bearers  in  purple  cassocks  and  white  cottas  fastened  by  cardinal 
strings,  and  the  studious-looking  seminarians  in  the  rear.  Before 
them  was  the  immense  congregation,  representing  the  wealth,  beauty 
and  learning  of  the  city,  the  city  government,  the  press,  and  the  bar, 
divided  into  four  sections  by  the  priests  in  black  cassocks  and  lace 


Rt.  Rev.  N.  A.  Gallagher,  D.  D. 
Bishop  of  Galveston,  Tex. 


Rt.  Rev.  Edw.  Fitzgerald,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Little  Rock  Ark. 


Rt.  Rev.  A.  Durier,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Natchitoches,  La. 


Most  Rev.  Francis  Janssens,  D.  D. 
Archbishop  of  New  Orleans,  La 


V.  Rev.  Ignatius  Jean,  D.  D., 
Prefect-Apostolic  of  Indian  Territory. 


4 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


surplices  who  had  camp  stools  in  the  three  aisles;  two  princes  of  the 
church,  heads  of  archdioceses  and  dioceses,  devoted  priests,  sturdy 
laymen  from  every  portion  of  the  country,  hooded  Sisters  of  Charity, 
fair  women  of  society  pledged  to  their  religion,  made  up  a body  dis- 
tinctive of  American  Catholicism,  and  the  spirit  of  worship  pervaded 
the  vast  assemblage,  which  had  as  a background  the  richly  decorated 
walls  of  the  metropolitan  edifice  hung  with  heavy  garlands  of  ever- 
green. 

Archbishop  John  Joseph  Williams,  of  Boston,  was  the  celebrant 
of  the  Solemn  Pontifical  Mass,  the  Rev.  A.  Magnien,  D.  D.,  Presi- 
dent of  St.  Mary’s  Seminary,  was  the  assistant  priest,  the  Rev.  Will- 
iam E.  Bartlett,  of  St.  Ann’s  Church,  Baltimore,  deacon,  the  Rev. 
James  S.  Duffy,  of  St.  Agnes’  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  sub  deacon, 
the  Rev.  J.  A.  McCallen,  of  St.  Patrick’s,  Montreal,  master  of 
ceremonies,  with  Messrs.  James  Nolen  and  T.  O’ Grady — both  semina- 
rians— assistants,  and  the  Rev.  John  T.  Whelan  and  the  Rev.W.  A. 
Reardon,  of  the  Cathedral,  assistants  for  the  priests. 

Music  of  the  highest  character  enhanced  the  impressiveness  of 
the  ceremony.  The  choral  was  directed  by  Prof.  F.  X.  Hale,  with 
Prof.  A.  C.  Leonard  organist,  and  the  chorus  of  sixty  voices  had  as 
soloists  the  Misses  Emma  Litz  and  Rose  Barrett,  sopranos;  Mrs.  F. 
X.  Hale  and  Miss  Mary  Townsend,  altos;  Messrs.  F.  Kayser,  A. 
C.  Montell  and  J.  A.  Moore,  tenors;  Messrs.  Harry  Furst  and  James 
F.  Farrell,  bassos.  The  seminary  choir,  which  rendered  the  Gre- 
gorian proper  of  the  Mass,  consisted  of  sixty  male  voices,  directed 
by  Father  Chenaux.  The  programme  of  the  music  was  as  follows: 


Premde,  for  trumpets  and  organ Gounod. 

March,  at  the  entrance  of  the  prelates Asger  Hamerik 

Chorus. 

Largo,  for  violin  solo  and  orchestra,  during  the  vesting  of  the 

most  reverend  celebrant Handel. 

Introit  to  the  Mass Gregorian  Chant. 

Kyrie  Eleison  (Mass  in  E flat)  Hummel. 

Gloria  in  Excelsis Hummel. 

Graduale  and  Alleluia Gregorian  Chant. 

Emitte  Spiritum  (before  sermon),  seven-part  chorus Schutky. 

Credo Hummel. 

Offertorium  (Gregorian),  followed  by  “Alma  Virgo”  Hummel. 

Sanctus  Hummel. 

Benedictus Hum  mel. 

Agnus  Dei Hummel. 

Communio Gregorian  Chant. 

Te  Deum,  six-part  chorus Haim. 

“Glory  to  God”  and  “Hallelujah  Chorus” Handel. 

Coronation  March,  for  orchestra  and  organ  Svensen. 


Beginning  with  the  inspiring  prelude  of  Gounod  and  conclud- 
ing with  the  magnificent  rendering  amid  appropriate  surroundings 
of  the  “Hallelujah  Chorus”  from  the  Messiah,  the  music  was  all  that 
could  be  desired,  and  while  every  part  was  well  taken,  the  rendering 
by  Prof.  Fritz  Gaul  on  the  violin  of  Handel’s  well  known  largo  dur- 
ing the  vesting  of  the  celebrant  was  expressive  of  melody,  and 
sympathetically  treated.  As  the  prelates  started  down  the  middle 
aisle  after  the  sermon,  just  before  the  singing  of  the  “Te  Deum”  and 
“Hallelujah  Chorus,”  Master  of  Ceremonies  McCallen  sustained,  in 
a clear,  high  baritone  voice,  which  caused  every  one  to  remain  silent, 
and  filled  every  corner  of  the  building  with  its  melody,  the  sum- 
mons, “Oremus  pro  Pontifice  Nostro  Feone,”  and  there  was  a sigh  of 
rapturous  delight  as  the  last  note  was  caught  up  by  the  choir,  who 
sang  the  prayer  for  the  Pope — “May  the  Lord  preserve  him,  and 
give  him  life,  and  make  him  blessed  on  earth,  and  deliver  him  not 
into  the  hands  of  his  enemies.” 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Mass  the  Most  Rev.  Patrick  John 
Ryan,  Archbishop  of  Philadelphia,  preached  the  sermon,  and  in 
spite  of  his  arduous  labors  during  the  previous  week  fully  sustained 
his  reputation  as  one  of  the  greatest  orators  of  the  Church,  as  he 
rapidly  reviewed  with  but  few  notes  the  history  of  the  Hierarchy, 
and  deduced  therefrom  many  lessons  for  the  future. 


ARCHBISHOP  RYAN’S  SERMON. 

Simon  the  high  priest,  the  son  of  Onias,  who  in  his  life  propped  up  the 
house,  and  in  his  days  fortified  the  temple.  * * * By  him  also  the  height 
of  the  temple  was  founded,  the  double  building,  and  the  high  walls  of  the 
temple.  * * * He  shone  in  his  days  as  the  morning  star  in  the  midst  of  a 
cloud,  and  as  the  moon  at  the  full.  * * * When  he  went  up  to  the  holy 
altar,  he  honored  the  vesture  of  holiness,  * * * and  when  he  took  the 
portions  out  of  the  hands  of  the  priests,  he  himself  stood  by  the  altar;  and 
about  him  was  the  ring  of  his  brethren;  and  as  the  cedar  planted  in  Mount 
Libanus,  * * * and  as  the  branches  of  palm  trees,  they  stood  round  about 
him,  and  all  the  sons  of  Aaron  in  his,  in  their  glory.  * * * And  the 
oblation  of  the  Lord  was  in  their  hands,  before  all  the  congregation  of  Israel; 
and  finishing  his  service  on  the  altar,  to  honor  the  offering  of  the  most  high 
king,  * * * he  stretched  forth  his  hand  to  make  a libation,  and  offered  of 
the  blood  of  the  grape.  * * * He  poured  out  at  the  foot  of  the  altar  a 
divine  odor,  to  the  most  high  prince.  * * * Then  the  sons  of  Aaron 
shouted,  they  sounded  with  beaten  trumpets,  and  made  a great  noise,  to  be 
heard  for  a remembrance  before  God.  * * * Then  all  the  people  together 
made  haste,  and  fell  down  to  the  earth  upon  their  faces,  to  adore  the  Lord, 
their  God,  and  to  pray  to  the  Almighty  God,  the  Most  High.  * * * And  the 
singers  lifted  up  their  voices,  and  in  the  great  house  the  sound  of  sweet  melody 
was  increased. — Ecclesiasticus,  50th  chapter,  verses  1,  2,  6,  12  to  20  inclusive. 

Most  Eminent  Cardinals,  Most  Reverend  Representative  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiff,  Venerable  Brothers  of  the  Episcopate  and  the 
Clergy,  Beloved  Brethern  of  the  Laity — In  this  fiftieth  chapter  of 
the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus  we  read  a glowing  eulogy  of  the  High 
Priest  Simon,  and  a magnificent  description  of  the  religious  cere- 
monies which  he  performed  in  the  temple  of  God,  surrounded  by  his 
priests,  “ the  sons  of  Aaron  in  their  glory.”  These  elaborate  and 
striking  ceremonies  of  the  ritual  of  Israel  were  arranged  in  detail 
by  Almighty  God  Himself.  For  the  office  of  religion  is  to  appeal 
not  only  to  the  intellect,  but  to  the  heart  also,  to  the  imagination, 
to  the  love  of  the  beautiful,  to  every  element  which  forms  part  of 

our  being.  This  mission  of  re- 
ligious ceremonial  requires  that 
it  should  be  instructive,  touching, 
beautiful,  and  permanent.  The 
ceremonies  of  the  temple  fore- 
shadowed those  of  the  Christian 
Church,  and  the  descriptions  in 
this  chapter  and  other  portions 
of  Scripture  seem  like  a prophet’s 
vision  of  a Pontifical  or  Papal 
Mass.  You  behold  enacted  here 
to-day  a scene  like  that  glorious 
one  narrated  in  the  fiftieth  chap- 
ter of  Ecclesiasticus.  A Christian 
Pontiff  offers  the  blood  of  the 
grape — the  blood  of  the  true  vine, 
Jesus  Christ  Himself.  Around 
the  Pontiff  stand  the  sons  of 
Aaron  in  their  glory;  the  singers 
have  lifted  up  their  voices  in 
sweet  melody,  and  “all  the  people 
fall  down  to  the  earth  to  adore 
the  Lord  their  God,  and  to  pray 
to  the  Almighty  God,  the  Most  High.” 

Could  these  scenes  influence  the  human  soul  as  they  do  if  God 
had  not  planted  an  element  within  it  to  be  so  influenced  ? And 
passing  upward  from  Jewish  and  Christian  ceremonials,  we  may 
contemplate  with  eyes  of  faith  a scene  to-day  in  the  eternal  temple 
of  God  — the  Simon  of  the  American  Hierarchy,  the  first  Bishop  that 
ruled  the  Church  in  these  states,  approaching  the  throne  of  God, 
encircled  by  all  the  great  and  holy  prelates,  priests  and  people  who 
have  passed  to  heaven  during  the  past  hundred  5^ears,  praising  and 
thanking  the  Most  High,  for  His  manifold  benedictions  bestowed  on 
the  young  American  Church,  and  asking  that  these  benedictions  be 
perpetuated.  In  the  glorious  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  communion 
of  saints  we  thus  rejoice  and  thank  and  pray  in  unison  with  those 
who  have  passed  away  -during  this  first  century  of  the  Church’s  life 
here.  Yes,  her  first  century  in  these  United  States,  but  not  her  first 
on  this  continent.  We  naturally  look  back  with  pardonable  pride 
to  three  hundred  years  earlier,  when  the  great  Catholic  dis- 
coverer of  this  New  World,  representating  a Catholic  nation,  first 
planted  the  all-civilizing  Cross  on  these  shores.  We  were  certainly 
here  before  any  of  the  religious  denominations  of  our  separated 
brethren,  and  when  the  leader  of  the  Reformation  in  Europe  was 
still  a Catholic  boy.  I rejoice  to  behold  here  to-day  a representa- 
tive of  that  older  Catholicity  in  the  person  of  a distinguished  Mex- 
ican Bishop.  We  welcome,  too,  the  representatives  of  Canada  and  of 
British  America,  the  venerable  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Quebec,  the 
other  Archbishops,  Bishops,  prelates,  and  priests  who  honor  us.  We 
know  that  the  Hierarchy  of  South  America  is  in  sympathy  with  this 


V.  REV.  MGR.  GADD, 
REPRESENTATIVE  OF  CARD.  MANNING. 


Rt.  Rev.  Francis  McNeirny,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Albany,  N.  Y 


Rt.  Rev.  John  Loughlin,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


Rt.  Rev.  S.  V.  Ryan,  C.  M„  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


r ^ 


Rt.  Rev.  Michael  W.  Wigger,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Newark,  N.  J. 


Most  Rev.  M.  A.  Corrigan,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  New  York. 


Rt.  Rev.  Bernard  J.  McQuaid,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  N.  Y. 


Rt.  Rev.  P.  A.  Ludden,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


Rt.  Rev.  M.  J.  O’Farrell,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Trenton,  N.  J. 


6 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


great  celebration.  It  is  as  a religious  reunion  of  all  the  Americas, 
and  I trust  it  shall  be  but  the  beginning  of  a still  more  intimate 
union  in  the  future.  We  behold  also  present  a prelate  representing 
England,  where  the  first  American  Bishop  spent  much  time  and 
received  episcopal  consecration,  and  from  which  country  the  first 
Catholic  settlers  of  Maryland  came  with  their  noble  leader,  Lord 
Baltimore.  Ireland,  Germany,  France,  and  other  European  coun- 
tries are  well  represented  by  tlieir  children  and  their  descendants 
amongst  prelates,  priests:  and  people.  It  is,  in  very  truth,  a great 
historic  Catholic  celebration,  calculated  to  gladden  the  heart  of  the 
present  successor  of  the  founder  of  the  American  Hierarch}",  and 
the  inheritor  of  his  spirit  and  virtues,  and  the  hearts  of  all  his  brother 
Bishops  and  their  priests  ; an  occasion  to  gratify  the  learned  Arch- 
bishop who  represents  here  to-day  the  Roman  Pontiff,  to  whom  this 
young  American  Church  has  ever  deen  devoted  ; and  to  rejoice  and 
console  the  heart  of  the  great  Pontiff  himself,  when  he  shall  hear  of 
its  success.  It  is  a celebration  that  ought  to  thrill  every  fibre  of 
every  Catholic  heart  in  the  land,  and  which  ought  to  deeply  interest 
thinking  men  of  all  denominations  or  of  no  denomination. 

Interesting  as  is  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  New  World, 
during  the  period  that  preceded  the  formation  of  this  government, 
yet  there  are  special  features  worthy  of  examination  in  her  history  ot 
the  last  century  in  these  states.  We  behold  her  unity  and  catho- 
licity combined,  adapted  to  a state  of  society  new  in  the  history  ol 
the  world. 

Up  to  that  time  men  generally  legislated  for  a single  people,  ot 
the  same  race,  color,  and  nationality.  The  fathers  of  this  republic 
had  to  form  a constitution  and  government  for  people  of  every  race, 
language,  color,  and  nationality,  who  they  foresaw  would  inhabit 
this  land.  They  had  to  combine  a political  catholicity  with  a polit- 
ical unity,  and  to  hold  the  most  discordant  elements  together  by 
force  of”  law.  So  also,  before  the  establishment  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  this  world,  religions  were  national  in  their  organizations, 
though  universal  in  their  fundamental  principles,  and  were  adapted 
to  particular  peoples,  of  the  same  race  and  language.  But  the 
Church  was  destined  to  embrace  within  her  government  the  peoples 
of  every  nation  under  heaven,  to  combine  the  most  diverse  elements 
in  perfect  unity,  intellectual,  governmental,  and  sacramental;  and  to 
hold  them  there  for  all  time.  And  in  no  one  country  of  the  world 
had  she  to  so  exercise  this  power  as  here,  for  nowhere  else  were  they 
found  together.  The  organization  of  this  government  and  the 
organization  of  the  Church  here  were,  therefore,  striking  and  sug- 
gestive coincidences.  I believe  that  before  another  century  shall 
have  passed,  thoughtful  men  will  clearly  see  that  this  wonderful 
catholicity  and  unity  of  the  Church,  that  have  survived  the  vicissi- 
tudes and  revolutions  of  nearly  two  thousand  years,  will  prove  most 
powerful  auxiliaries  for  the  prepetuation  of  our  political  union.  In 
the  civil  war  of  a quarter  of  a century  ago,  all  non-Catholic  denom- 
inations separated  into  northern  and  southern  organizations,  and 
have  not  yet  healed  the  wounds  of  that  separation.  The  Catholic 
Church  alone  remained  united.  The  bishops  of  Boston  and  Charles- 
ton were  members  of  one  national  organization.  The  greater  the 
diversity  of  elements  in  a country  or  a church,  the  greater  must  be 
the  unitive  powers  that  keep  them  combined.  In  other  words,  that 
religious  unity  and  catholicity  are  necessary  to  preserve  political 
unity  and  catholicity.  For  want  of  this  conservative  power  the 
Roman  empire  fell.  Its  attempted  union  of  all  nations  under  one 
government  was  a failure,  because  there  was  no  moral  bond  strong 
enough  to  repress  those  passions  that  ever  lead  to  disintegration  and 
anarchy. 

Let  us,  dear  fathers  and  brethren,  glance  at  the  Church  in  this 
country  during  the  past  century  and  endeavor  to  understand  its 
action  and  spirit,  under  circumstances  so  peculiar.  And  by  the 
past,  we  may  judge  of  the  yet  more  glorious  future.  As  the  student 
of  our  national  history  in  observing  the  rise  of  the  young  republic 
itself  naturally  fixes  his  attention  on  the  great  leader  who  embodied 
in  himself  the  principles  and  the  spirit  of  that  period,  and  from  the 
study  of  the  character  of  George  Washington,  learns  the  genius  of 
the  time  ; so  in  our  ecclesiastical  history,  we  behold  one  man,  the 
first  Catholic  bishop  of  these  states,  who  embodied  the  spirit  of  that 
period,  and  whose  life  and  character  naturally  present  themselves  in 
the  first  place  for  our  consideration  on  this  great  centennial  celebra- 
tion of  his  appointment.  Like  Simon,  the  High  Priest,  he  fortified 
the  moral  temple  and  enlarged  the  city  of  God,  and  as  the  sun  when 
it  shineth,  so  did  he  shine  in  the  temple  of  God,  and  the  bishops 
that  followed  him  “ walked  in  his  light  and  in  the  brightness  of  his 
rising.” 

The  men  whom  God  destines  as  great  instruments  pf  His  prov- 
idence, He  prepares  by  apparently  accidental  causes  for  their 


mission.  Dr.  John  Carroll,  the  son  of  devoted  Irish  Catholic 
parents,  inherited  the  deep  faith  of  his  ancestors.  Destined  to  hold 
so  conspicuous  a place  as  leader  of  the  American  Church,  he  was 
born  in  Maryland  in  1735.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  sent  to  the 
Jesuit  College  of  St.  Omer’s,  in  French  Flanders,  where  he  met 
people  of  various  nationalities,  who  helped  to  enlarge  and  catholicize 
his  mind,  without  weakening  his  patriotism.  Here  he  studied  under 
the  admirable  system  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  and  finally  became  a 
member  of  their  society.  Subsequently  he  was  a professor  of  phi- 
losophy and  theology  in  their  scholasticate,  and  thus  enjoyed  all  the 
advantages  of  a thorough  Jesuit  system  of  education  and  religious 
training.  To  some  it  may  appear  that  such  a training  serves  rather 
to  narrow  the  mind,  and  causes  it  to  move  in  a certain  fixed  groove; 
that,  as  in  civil  society,  the  individual  must  yield  some  of  his  per- 
sonal liberty  for  the  good  of  the  many,  so  in  a most  perfect  and 
united  society  like  that  of  the  Jesuits  the  individual  is  almost  lost 
in  the  community.  It  is  certainly  the  greatest  society  in  the  Catholic 
Church,  as  a society,  but  has  not,  it  is  said,  produced  the  greatest 
individuals  in  the  Church’s  history,  because  the  greater  the  society 
the  less  the  individual.  Hence  some  would  claim  that  this  training 
would  unfit  a man  for  the  great  mission  of  founding  the  American 
Hierarchy.  But  though  it  may  be  true  that  individual  liberty  is  cur- 
tailed in  the  society,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  much  less  so 
than  is  generally  imagined;  and  the  fact  that  a man  is  assigned  to 
the  work  best  adapted  to  his  individual  tastes  and  tendencies  is  more 
than  compensation  for  this  curtailment.  You  cannot  have  a great 
society  without  great  constituents  of  it,  though  their  individuality 
may  not  be  conspicuous.  No  one  can  question  the  excellence  of  the 
religious  training  of  the  society  — its  deep  but  rational  asceticism,  its 
preparation  of  the  mind  and  soul,  by  solitude  and  humiliation,  for 
the  most  exalted  positions.  There  never  was  a great  soul  formed  with- 
out such  solitude.  What  the  wise  man  calls  ‘ ‘ the  fascinatio  nugaci- 
tatis,  ’ ’ the  fascination  of  trifling,  distracts  and  weakens  it.  In  the 
deep  solitudes  of  Citeaux  and  Clairvaux  did  the  soul  of  St.  Bernard, 
communing  with  God,  imbibe  that  wonderful  power,  that  divine 
energy  which  afterwards  moved  the  world,  without  disturbing  its 
own  peace.  In  the  silence  and  mysterious  communings  of  Manresa 
did  the  first  Jesuit,  Ignatius,  lay  the  foundations,  deep  and  strong 
and  enduring,  of  that  active  life  which  he  subsequently  led,  and  of 
the  great  society  which  he  formed.  There  did  he  conceive  the  plan 
and  arrange  the  spiritual  tactics  of  that  army  which  afterward 
fought  so  bravely  and  so  wisely  for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  under 
the  standard  of  the  Supreme  King,  in  the  plain  around  Jerusalem — 
the  new  Jerusalem  of  the  Church  of  God.  In  solitude  the  soul 
realizes  the  vanity  of  all  things  human,  the  shortness  of  time,  the 
greatness  of  eternity,  the  awful  responsibility  of  power,  especially 
where  human  souls  were  concerned.  This  young  American  religious 
was  destined  to  stand  on  the  pinnacle  of  power,  to  be  exalted  above 
his  fellows,  and  now  he  has  to  be  prepared  for  this  bewildering  eleva- 
tion, lest,  Lucifer-like,  he  might  grow  dizzy,  through  pride,  and 
fall,  bringing  with  him  many  companions  who  had  looked  up  to  him 
as  their  leader.  The  suppression  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  in  1773, 
left  Father  Carroll  a secular  priest  and  free  to  return  to  his  native 
country.  The  suppression  caused  him  the  most  intense  grief.  He 
bowed,  however,  with  resignation  to  the  inscrutable  decree  of  Provi- 
dence. He  well  knew  that  no  individual  and  no  society  is  essential 
to  the  Church’s  existence;  that  her  divine  life  will  be  perpetuated, 
no  matter  how  many  of  her  children  fall.  That  glorious  society  had 
for  over  two  hundred  years  led  the  van  of  the  Christian  army.  Its 
suppression  seemed  an  act  of  suicide,  but  the  power  which  gave  it 
life  and  suppressed  it  called  it  also  to  its  resurrection.  Pope  Pius 
VII — 1814 — just  one  year  before  the  death  of  Archbishop  Carroll — 
re-established  it.  It  was  the  supreme  dying  consolation  of  the 
American  prelate. 

The  suppression  of  his  beloved  society  had  the  effect  of  bring- 
ing him  back  to  America,  and  I cannot  but  think  that  it  predisposed 
him  in  favor  of  that  great  principle  in  the  American  constitution 
which  declared  that  the  state  should  not  interfere  in  religious  mat- 
ters. He  saw  the  influence  of  state  opposition  to  the  society,  as  his 
letters  express.  If  Church  and  state  were  harmonious  in  faith  and 
practice,  their  union,  when  properly  regulated,  might  do  good.  But 
where  Church  and  state  are  antagonistic  in  faith  and  principlesr-ausl^ 
especially  where  there  are  so  many  diverse  denominations  as  with 
us,  the  American  system  of  leaving  each  organization  free  to  act 
out  its  mission  seems  the  best  one.  Otherwise,  such  unions  are  like 
mixed  marriages  or  marriages  of  convenience.  For  several  years 
previous  to  Dr.  Carroll’s  appointment  as  Bishop  of  Baltimore,  the 
question  was  discussed  of  such  an  appointment  to  some  American 
city.  In  1756  Bishop  Challoner,  then  Vicar- Apostolic  of  the  London 


Rt.  Rev.  Louis  De  Goesbriand,  D.  D. 
Bishop  of  Burlington,  Vt. 


Rt.  Rev.  James  A.  Healy,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Portland,  Me. 


Rt.  Rev.  M.  J.  Harkins,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Providence,  R.  I. 


Rt.  Rev.  P.  T.  O’Reilly,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Springfield,  Mass. 


)' 


8 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


district,  proposed  Philadelphia  as  the  most  suitable  place,  because 
of  the  freedom  enjoyed  by  Catholics  in  Pennsylvania  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  gentle  spirit  and  laws  of  William  Penn  and  his  fol- 
lowers. But  it  must  be  admitted  that  Maryland  had  still  stronger 
claims,  because  of  the  greater  number  of  Catholics  here,  because  of 
her  Catholic  founder  and  his  noble  stand  for  religious  freedom. 

At  the  age  of  forty  Dr.  Carroll  returned  to  his  native  country 
after  twenty-five  years’  residence  in  Europe.  For  fifteen  years  he 
occupied  high  positions  of  trust  here,  and  was  for  some  time  Prefect 
Apostolic.  On  the  6th  of  November,  1789,  he  was  appointed  first 
Bishop  of  Baltimore  and  head  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United 
States.  In  compliance  with  a promise  made  to  an  English  gentle- 
man, Mr.  Weld,  of  Lulworth  Castle,  he  was  consecrated  in  his 
domestic  chapel  by  Bishop  Walmesley,  Vicar- Apostolic  of  the  London 
district,  the  book  of  the  gospels  being  held  over  his  shoulders  by  the 
son  of  his  friend,  afterward  the  distinguished  Cardinal  Weld.  In  a 
private  letter  to  Dr.  Troy,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  Bishop  Carroll 
wrote  that  were  it  not  for  this  request  and  promise  he  would  have 
preferred  the  consecration  to  have  taken  place  in  America  or  in  Ire- 
land, the  land  of  his  Catholic  forefathers.  His  consecration  took 
place  on  the  15th  of  August,  1790,  the  feast  of  the  Assumption  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin,  under  whose  patronage  he  placed  the  young 
church  of  these  states.  By  a remarkable  coincidence  to-day  is  the 
festival  of  that  patronage. 

Bishop  Carroll  was  then  fifty-five  years  old.  Twenty-five  years 
of  work,  laborious  and  fruitful,  were  still  before  him.  The  spirit 
that  animated  these  memorable  years,  the  sense  of  great  responsibil- 
ity and  the  necessity  of  personal  sanctification  and  incessant  toil,  are 
expressed  in  his  inaugural  address  on  the  occasion  of  his  installment 
as  Bishop  in  this  city.  It  was  the  inaugural  of  the  American  Hier- 
archy, and  deserves  to  be  heard.  Listen  to  the  words  as  they  well 
up  from  the  heart  of  the  great  first  American  Bishop: 

“ It  is  no  longer  enough  for  me  to  be  inoffensive  in  my  conduct 
and  regular  in  my  manners.  God  now  imposes  a severer  duty  upon 
me.  I shall  incur  the  guilt  of  violating  my  pastoral  office  if  all  my 
endeavors  be  not  directed  to  bring  your  lives  and  all  your  actions  to 
a conformity  with  the  laws  of  God;  to  exhort,  to  conjure,  to  re- 
prove, to  enter  into  all  your  sentiments;  to  feel  all  your  infirmities; 
to  be  all  things  to  all,  that  I may  gain  all  to  Christ;  to  be 
superior  to  human  respect;  to  have  nothing  in  view  but  God 
and  your  ^salvation;  to  sacrifice  to  these  health,  peace,  reputa- 
tion, and  even  life  itself;  to  hate  sin,  and  yet  love  the  sinner; 
to  repress  the  turbulent;  to  encourage  the  timid;  to  watch  over  the 
conduct  of  even  the  ministers  of  religion;  to  be  patient  and  meek; 
to  embrace  all  kinds  of  persons.  These  are  now  my  duties — 
extensive,  pressing,  and  indispensable  duties— these  are  the  duties 
of  all  my  brethren  in  the  Episcopacy,  and  surely  important 
enough  to  fill  us  with  terror.  But  there  are  others  still  more 
burdensome  to  be  borne  by  me  in  this  particular  portion  of  Christ’s 
Church,  which  is  committed  to  my  charge,  and  where  every- 
thing is  to  be  raised,  as  it  were,  from  its  foundation — to  establish 
ecclesiastical  discipline;  to  devise  means  for  the  religious  education 
of  Catholic  youth — that  precious  portion  of  pastoral  solicitude;  to 
provide  an  establishment  for  training  up  ministers  for  the  sanctuary 
and  the  services  of  religion,  that  we  may  no  longer  depend  on 
foreign  and  uncertain  coadjutors;  not  to  leave  unassisted  any  of  the 
faithful  who  are  scattered  through  this  immense  continent;  to  pre- 
serve their  faith  untainted  amidst  the  contagion  of  error  surrounding 
them  on  all  sides;  to  preserve  in  their  hearts  a warm  charity  and 
forbearance  toward  every  other  denomination  of  Christians,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  preserve  them  from  that  fatal  and  prevailing  indif- 
ence which  views  all  religions  as  equally  acceptable  to  God  and 
salutary  to  men.  Ah!  when  I consider  these  additional  duties,  my 
heart  sinks  almost  under  the  impression  of  terror  which  comes  upon 
it.  In  God  alone  can  I find  any  consolation.  He  knows  by  what 
steps  I have  been  conducted  to  this  important  station,  and  how  much 
I have  always  dreaded  it.  He  will  not  abandon  me  unless  I first 
draw  down  His  malediction  by  my  unfaithfulness  to  my  charge. 
Pray,  dear  brethren,  pray  incessantly,  that  I may  not  incur  so  dread- 
ful a punishment.  Alas!  the  punishment  would  fall  on  you  as  well 
as  on  myself;  my  unfaithfulness  would  rebound  on  you  and  deprive 
you  of  some  of  the  means  of  salvation.” 

This  inaugural  address  has  the  true  ring  in  it,  and  proved  the 
programme  of  his  future  action.  Though  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples that  govern  all  Bishops  in  the  Church  are  similar,  yet  there  are 
adaptations  to  circumstances  which  will  vary  with  these  circum- 
stances and  in  which  the  individuality  and  wisdom  or  unwisdom  ot 
each  prelate  become  apparent.  When  St.  Gregory  the  Great  sent 
St.  Augustine  to  preach  Christianity  in  England  he  charged  him  to 


accommodate  himself,  as  much  as  faith  and  essential  discipline 
would  permit,  to  the  circumstances  of  the  new  country  in  which  he 
found  himself.  This  he  accordingly  did,  and  hence  he  was  so 
marvelously  successful.  Bishop  Carroll,  by  a natural  instinct,  did 
the  same.  He  was  very  broad  and  liberal  in  his  views,  thoroughly 
American  in  his  sentiments,  and  most  charitable  in  his  feelings 
toward  those  who  were  not  of  his  faith;  but  he  never  strayed  beyond 
the  domain  of  true  Catholic  principles,  by  any  false  liberality.  He 
knew  and  loved  the  country,  he  knew  and  loved  the  Church;  and 
he  well  understood  that  there  was  no  real  antagonism  between  the 
principles  of  the  new  republican  government  and  those  of  the  old 
Catholic  Church.  He  knew  that  Church’s  power  to  command 
respect  and  obedience  for  authority,  and  for  those  who  wielded  it, 
and  he  knew  how  much  this  would  be  required  in  a republic  where 
the  magistrates,  being  elected  by  the  people,  might  be  less  respected 
than  hereditary  kings  born  to  command.  He  understood  how  the 
mission  of  the  new  government  would  be,  as  I have  said,  like  the 
Church’s  own  mission,  to  combine  catholicity  with  unity. 

He  had  personal  experience  of  this  combination  in  his  own 
priests.  His  first  diocesan  synod  was  held  in  1791,  the  year  after 
his  consecration.  It  consisted  of  only  twenty-one  priests,  but  they 
represented  seven  different  nationalities,  not  merely  countries  of 
birth,  which  may  be  of  comparatively  little  importance  with  people 
of  the  same  race,  but  seven  different  and  somewhat  antagonistic 
peoples — American,  Irish,  English,  German,  French,  Belgian,  and 
Holland — yet  all  acted  in  their  true  character  of  American  priests, 
under  his  leadership. 

Bishop  Carroll  was  an  American  patriot,  as  well  as  a Christian 
bishop.  Love  of  country  and  of  race  is  a feeling  planted  by  God  in 
the  human  heart,  and  when  properly  directed,  becomes  a natural 
virtue.  Now  there  is  a pernicious  tendency  in  some  minds  to  so 
separate  the  natural  from  the  supernatural  as  to  make  them  appear 
antagonistic.  As  reason  comes  from  God  as  well  as  Revelation,  so 
also  do  all  the  great  virtues,  truthfulness,  honor,  courage,  manli- 
ness— from  which  the  very  name  of  virtue  is  derived — and  patriot- 
ism spring  up  under  His  fostering  care.  And  as  it  would  be  wrong 
to  regard  the  purely  natural,  ignoring  the  supernatural,  so  also  is  it 
wrong  and  narrow,  to  regard  exclusively  the  supernatural  without 
reference  to  that  on  which  it  must  be  based,  and  which,  like  itself, 
is  God’s  holy  work,  though  in  an  inferior  order.  Bishop  Carroll's 
patriotism  never  conflicted  with  his  religion,  for  he  always  acted  for 
God  from  a sense  of  duty,  whether  preaching  the  gospel  in  Balti- 
more, or,  with  his  friend,  Benjamin  Franklin,  acting  as  representa- 
tive ot  the  colonial  government  in  his  mission  to  Quebec. 

The  new  Bishop  thoroughly  appreciated  how  important  for  the 
Church’s  progress,  as  well  as  for  the  stability  of  the  state,  was  the 
diffusion  of  education.  He  knew  that  men  must  be  educated,  in 
order  to  successfully  govern  themselves.  Hence  one  of  his  first 
projects  was  to  foster  the  now  time-honored  institution,  Georgetown 
College. 

Of  all  the  false  charges  alleged  against  the  Catholic  Church, 
the  most  sepseless  and  unfounded  is,  that  she  fears  science,  and  is 
the  enemy  of  education.  Her  opponents,  almost  in  the  same  breath, 
charge  her  with  being  the  foe  at  once,  and  the  monopolizer  of  edu- 
cation. They  behold  her  great  religious  orders  of  men  and  women 
devoted  to  the  work  of  education;  making  more  sacrifices  for  it  than 
any  other  body  of  men  and  women  on  earth;  vowing  at  God’s  altar 
that  until  they  go  down  into  their  graves  they  shall  devote  them- 
selves in  poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience  to  the  great  work  of 
educating  the  human  mind  and  heart.  And  the  last  man  in  the 
world  to  fear  intellectual  progress,  whether  popular  or  individual, 
is  the  Catholic.  He  well  knows  that  truth  is  one;  that  God  cannot 
contradict,  in  the  Revelation  of  Scripture,  what  he  exhibits  in  the 
revelation  of  science.  Hence  a man’s  fearlessness  of  such  science 
will  be  in  proportion  to  the  certainty  of  his  conviction  of  the  truths 
of  revelation.  If  I have  only  religious  opinions,  more  or  less 
certain,  I may  fear  that  some  scientific  truth  will  be  discovered 
which  will  show  them  to  be  false;  but  if  I am  absolutely  certain  of 
my  religious  faith,  I feel  perfectly  secure.  Now,  no  one  can  ques- 
tion the  fact  of  the  certainty  that  exists  in  the  minds  of  Catholics 
that  they  are  dogmatically  right.  This  certainty  is  sometimes 
regarded  as  fanaticism  by  religious  skeptics  who  have  not  the  gift  of 
faith.  But  whether  it  be  founded  on  reason  or  fanaticism,  the  fact  is 
there,  and  hence  the  Catholic  Church  has  never  feared  and  can  never 
fear  the  progress  of  science  and  education,  but  has  always  been 
their  active  promoter.  Hence  Bishop  Carroll  simply  acted  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  Church  when  he  founded  George- 
town College,  and  the  Catholic  Bishops  of  the  country  are  now  but 
acting  in  the  same  spirit  in  the  foundation  of  the  Catholic  University 


Rt.  Rev.  R.  Phelan,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny,  Pa. 


Rt.  Rev.  Tobias  Mullen,  D.  D. 
Bishop  of  Erie,  Pa. 


Most  Rev.  Patrick  John  Ryan,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  O’Hara,  D.  D 
Bishop  of  Scranton,  Pa. 


Rt.  Rev.  John  Tuigg,  D.  D., 
Resigned  See  of  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny, 
Pa. 


IO 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


of  America  in  Washington.  Its  inauguration  very  appropriately 
follows  this  centennial  celebration.  As  to  purely  ecclesiastical 
studies,  the  Bishop  deemed  himself  most  fortunate  in  having  the 
good  Sulpitian  Fathers  to  direct  them.  Though  loving  intensely 
the  Society  of  Jesus,  he  was  too  great  and  broad  a man  to  have  any 
of  that  exclusive  order  pride  which  would  restrict  perfection  to  any 
organization.  He  saw  the  great  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  His 
Church,  with  its  wonderful  unity  and  variety,  moving  onward  in  its 
great  mission.  The  perfect  spirit  of  the  secular  priesthood  was 
exhibited  in  the  Sulpitian;  that  of  the  religious  in  the  Jesuit;  the 
union  of  both  was  shown  forth  in  laying  the  great  foundations  oi 
the  Catholic  Church  in  these  states. 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  new  Bishop  extended  over  the  entire 
country,  but  he  soon  found  it  impossible,  because  of  the  increase  of 
Catholics  and  the  great  distance  of  the  places,  and  difficulties  of 
travel,  as  well  as  his  advanced  age,  to  faithfully  guard  so  scattered 
a flock.  The  Bishops  who,  in  1810,  were  appointed  to  aid  him  in 
the  great  work  were  apostolic  men  animated  by  his  own  spirit,  like 
the  sainted  Bishop  Flaget,  of  Bardstown;  Egan,  of  Philadelphia; 
and  Cheverus,  of  Boston.  It  would  be,  of  course,  impossible  in 
this  discourse  to  give  you  an  adequate  idea  of  the  marvelous  prog- 
ress of  religion  during  the  twenty-five  years  of  the  episcopal  life  of 
Archbishop  Carroll.  The  results  are  thus  summed  up  by  our  admir- 
able church  historian,  Dr.  Gilmary  Shea: 

“ When  Archbishop  Carroll  resigned  to  the  hands  of  his  Maker 
his  life  and  the  office  he  had  held  for  a quarter  of  a century  the 
Church,  fifty  years  before  so  utterly  unworthy  of  consideration  to 
mere  human  eyes,  had  become  a fully  organized  body  instinct  with 
life  and  hope,  throbbing  with  all  the  freedom  of  a new  country.  An 
archbishopric  and  four  suffragan  sees,  another  diocese  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  with  no  endowments  from  princes  or  nobles,  were 
steadily  advancing;  churches,  institutions  of  learning  and  charity  all 
arising  by  the  spontaneous  offerings  of  those  who  in  most  cases  were 
manfully  struggling  to  secure  a livelihood  or  modest  competence. 
The  diocese  of  Baltimore  had  theological  seminaries,  a novitiate  and 
scholasticate,  colleges,  convents,  academies,  schools,  a community 
devoted  to  education  and  works  of  mercy;  the  press  was  open  to  dif- 
fuse Catholic  truth  and  refute  false  or  perverted  representations.  In 
Pennsylvania  there  were  priests  and  churches  through  the  mountain 
districts  to  Pittsburgh,  and  all  was  ripe  for  needed  institutions.  In 
New  York  Catholics  were  increasing  west  of  Albany,  and  it  had  been 
shown  that  a college  and  an  academy  for  girls  would  find  ready  sup- 
port at  the  episcopal  city,  where  a Cathedral  had  been  commenced 
before  the  arrival  of  the  long-expected  Bishop.  In  New  England 
the  faith  was  steadily  gaining  under  the  wise  rule  of  the  pious  and 
charitable  Bishop  Cheverus.  In  the  west  the  work  of  Badin  and 
Nerinckx,  seconded  and  extended  by  Bishop  Flaget,  was  bearing  its 
fruit.  There  was  a seminary  for  priests,  communities  of  Sisters  were 
forming,  and  north  of  the  Ohio  the  faith  had  been  revived  in  the  old 
French  settlements,  and  Catholic  immigrants  from  Europe  were 
visited  and  encouraged.  Louisiana  had  been  confided  to  the  zealous 
and  active  Bishop  Dubourg,  destined  to  effect  so  much  for  the 
Church  in  this  country.  Catholicity  had  her  churches  and  priests 
in  all  the  large  cities  from  Boston  to  Augusta,  and  westward  to  St. 
Louis  and  New  Orleans,  with  many  in  smaller  towns,  there  being  at 
least  a hundred  churches  and  as  many  priests  exercising  the  minis- 
try. Catholics  were  free;  the  days  of  penal  laws  had  departed;  pro- 
fessions were  open  to  them,  and  in  most  states  the  avenue  to  all 
public  offices.  In  the  late  war  with  England  they  had  shown  their 
patriotism  in  the  field  and  on  the  waves.” 

For  the  seventy-five  years  that  have  passed  since  the  death  ol 
the  first  American  Archbishop,  the  Hierarchy  of  the  country,  backed 
by  devoted  priests  and  faithful,  generous  people,  have  continued  the 
great  work. 

In  the  Hierarchy,  during  these  years,  appeared  men  who  were 
remarkable  in  a new  and  missionary  country,  and  would  have  been 
remarkable  in  any  country  and  age — men  like  Archbishop  Francis 
Patrick  Kenrick,  of  this  See,  the  greatest  of  our  dead  ecclesiastics 
as  his  brother  of  St.  Louis  is  the  greatest  amongst  our  living  ones. 
There  were  Bishop  England,  Archbishop  Hughes,  Bishop  Michael 
O’Connor,  Archbishops  Spalding  and  Purcell,  and  the  great  apostolic 
men,  Bishops  Brute,  Cheverus,  Elaget,  Tiinon,  Neumann,  and  Wood. 
Nor  should  we  forget  the  gentle,  eloquent  and  prudent  first  Ameri- 
can Cardinal,  McCloskey,  of  New  York. 

If  I speak  of  the  episcopate  especially,  it  is  only  because  this  is 
the  centennial  celebration  of  its  establishment.  Otherwise  I would 
not  omit  the  great  name  of  Monsignor  Corcoran.  I cannot,  of 
course,  forget  that  as  generals  cannot  gain  victories  unless  sustained 
by  able  officers  and  soldiers,  neither  could  the  episcopate  of  the 


country  unless  the  devoted  priests,  secular  and  regular,  sustained 
them.  The  great  religious  orders  and  congregations  did  their  noble 
work  here.  The  sons  of  St.  Ignatius,  St.  Francis,  St.  Dominic,  St. 
Benedict,  St.  Alphonsus,  St.  Augustine,  St.  Vincent  of  Paul,  St. 
Paul  of  the  Cross  and  St.  Paul  the  Apostle,  and  others  have 
bravely  sustained  the  episcopate,  whilst  the  devoted  secular  clergy, 
who  for  years  endured  untold  labor  and  poverty,  were  the  most 
numerous  and  powerful  of  all  the  actors  in  the  Church’s  progress. 
We  rejoice  to  behold  here  to-day  so  many  representatives  of  these 
elements  of  power.  But  what  could  Bishops  and  priests  effect  with- 
out you,  ‘‘our  joy  and  our  crown,”  the  devoted,  generous,  intelligent 
laity  of  the  United  States?  To  you  and  }rours  God  sent  us.  For  you 
and  yours  the  Catholic  ecclesiastic  makes  every  sacrifice  of  human 
ambition  and  human  love.  These  sacrifices  you  have  appreciated 
and  you  have  nobly  sustained  us. 

We  are  glad  to  behold  you  here  to-day  in  such  vast  numbers 
and  with  so  much  genuine  enthusiasm.  And  on  this  great  historic 
occasion  you  must  not  be  mere  observers,  but  we  trust  your  repre- 
sentatives will  speak  out  freely  and  fearlessly  in  the  lay  congress 
which  forms  so  interesting  a feature  in  this  centennial  celebration. 
You  know  how  false  is  the  charge  of  the  enemies  of  the  Church  that 
you  are  priest-ridden. 

It  is  now  time  that  an  active,  educated  laity  should  take  and 
express  interest  in  the  great  questions  of  the  day  affecting  the 
Church  and  society.  I believe  there  is  not  in  the  world  a more 
devoted  laity  than  we  have  in  the  Church  of  these  states.  I find,  too, 
that  the  best  educated  amongst  them,  and  notably  the  converts,  are 
sound  on  the  great  questions  of  the  day  and  loyal  to  the  Church. 
We  should  bear  in  mind,  too,  the  great  work  done  by  the  laity  as 
publicists  and  editors  during  the  past  century;  done  by  men  like  the 
great  Dr.  Brownson,  for  great  he  certainly  was;  by  the  disinterested, 
impulsive,  and  talented  McMaster;  the  polished  Dr.  Huntington;  by 
that  most  devoted  martyr,  as  I may  term  him,  to  Catholic  journal- 
ism, Patrick  Vincent  Hickey,  of  the  Catholic  Review , and  others 
whom  time  will  not  permit  to  mention  in  detail.  By  the  united 
action  of  Bishops,  priests,  and  laymen  we  have  results  of  progress  in 
the  last  century,  the  statistics  of  which  are  truly  astonishing.  And 
what  is  particularly  remarkable  is  the  fact  that  in  the  section  of  the 
country  where  opposition  to  the  Church  was  most  deep  and  violent, 
the  progress  was  greatest.  I allude  to  the  New  England  states. 
Within  the  memory  of  the  present  Metropolitan  of  Boston,  that  is, 
about  sixty  years  ago,  New  England  had  but  one  Bishop,  two 
priests  and  two  public  places  of  worship.  She  has  now  one  Arch- 
bishop, six  Bishops,  942  priests,  and  619  churches,  with  private 
chapels, colleges,  schools,  and  benevolent  institutions,  and  population 
in  proportion.  Those  who  do  not  desire  the  progress  of  the  Catholic 
Church  should  never  persecute  her.  The  general  statistics  of  the 
Church  during  the  century  are,  briefly,  as  follows: 

When  Bishop  Carroll  was  consecrated,  in  1790,  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States  was  a little  less  than  4,000,000 — the 
Catholic  population  was  estimated  at  about  40,000;  thirty  priests 
ministered  to  this  scattered  flock.  There  was  not  a single  hospital 
or  asylum  throughout  the  land.  The  churches  were  only  the 
few  modest  houses  of  worship  erected  in  Catholic  settlements,  chiefly 
in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  Georgetown  College,  just  then 
founded,  was  the  only  Catholic  seat  of  learning  in  the  country. 

Glance  at  the  present.  The  population  of  the  United  States 
has  grown  within  a century  from  4,000,000  to  65,000,000  peo- 
ple; the  progress  of  the  Church  has  more  than  kept  pace  with  the 
material  development  of  the  country.  There  is  now  embraced  within 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  a Catholic  population  of  about 
9,000,000.  There  are  thirteen  Archbishops  and  seventy-one  Bishops, 
8,000  priests,  10,500  churches  and  chapels,  twenty-seven  seminaries 
exclusively  devoted  to  the  training  of  candidates  for  the  sacred  min- 
istry; there  are  650  colleges  and  academies  for  the  higher  education 
of  the  youth  of  both  sexes,  and  3,100  parish  schools.  There  are  520 
hospitals  and  orphan  asylums.  What  is  of  immense  importance  is 
that  her  spirit  lias  in  nothing  degenerated.  She  is  alive  to-day 
with  a divine  energy  and  fecundity  that  will  continue  to  multiply 
these  great  results. 

The  remarkable  statistics  quoted  become  marvelous  when  we 
consider  the  antagonism  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  to  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  objections  to  it  were  those  urged  by  the 
pagans  in  the  first  century  of  Christianity,  first  its  supposed  exorbi- 
tant claims  and  exclusiveness.  Christianity  was  not  content  to  have 
its  God  occupy  a place  amongst  the  deities  of  the  Pantheon,  but  de- 
clared that  He,  and  He  alone,  was  the  true  God.  This  was  deemed 
an  insult  to  the  gods  of  the  Empire.  Here  was  the  Catholic  Church, 
so  few  in  numbers  and  so  weak  in  influence,  boldly  claiming  that 


Rt.  Rev.  R.  Gilmour,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Cleveland,  O. 


Rt.  Rev.  John  A.  Watterson,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Columbus,  O. 


Rt.  Rev.  Camillus  P.  Maes,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Covington,  Ky. 


Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Dwenger,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Ft.  Wayne,  Ind. 


Rt.  Rev.  Henry  Joseph  Richter,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 


Rt.  Rev.  William  McCloskey,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Louisville,  Ky. 


Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  Rademacher,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Nashville,  Tenn. 


Rt.  Rev.  Francis  S.  Chatard,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Vincennes,  Ind. 


Rt.  Rev.  Caspar  H.  Borgess,  D.  D., 
Resigned  See  of  Detroit,  Mich. 


12 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


Christ  established  but  one  church,  and  that  all  others  were  simply 
human  institutions,  more  or  less  true  in  their  teachings,  as  they 
agreed  or  disagreed  with  her  own.  She  indeed  wished  freedom  for 
all,  but  did  not  for  an  instant  concede  that  all  could  be  true.  Again, 
as  in  pagan  days,  her  perfect  organization  was  feared  as  possibly 
dangerous  to  the  state,  and  the  extraordinary  spectacle  was  exhibited 
to  the  world  of  a great  and  numerous  political  party,  afraid  to  act  in 
open  day,  and  entering  into  a secret  society  against  a handful  of  their 
fellow-citizens.  But  God  brought  good  out  of  evil.  Few  people 
realize  how  much  indirect  benefit  this  cowardly  opposition  was  to  the 
Church  during  the  brief,  inglorious  existence  of  the  party  propheti- 
cally named  at  its  birth  Know-Nothing. 

The  thoughtful  men  of  the  nation  who  opposed  this  party  were 
driven  into  the  ranks  of  the  Church’s  defenders.  They  studied  her 
history  and  doctrines.  Important  conversions  and  the  clearing  away 
of  much  ignorance  and  prejudice  were  the  results.  The  civil 
war,  which  so  retarded  the  progress  of  the  nation  and  all  re- 
ligious institutions,  including  our  own,  and  split  up  all  non- 
Catholic  denominations  into  northern  and  southern  organiza- 
tions, showed  forth,  as  I have  already  said,  the  united  power 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  war  also  exhibited  her  marvelous 
and  well-regulated  charity.  Sisters  of  Charity  and  of  Mercy 
ministered  to  the  sick  and  the  wounded,  irrespective  of  party. 
Sisters  of  northern  birth  and  principles  nursed  the  southern  soldiers, 
and  Sisters  of  southern  birth  and  principles,  whose  brothers  were 
fighting  in  the  ranks  of  the  Confederate  army,  were  found  nursing 
their  northern  foes.  These  Sisters  acted  as  silent  evangelists  of 
the  old  Church.  They  quietly  revolutionized  popular  opinion  con- 
cerning her.  I speak  from  experience,  for  during  the  war  one  of 
the  largest  prisons  of  the  country,  known  as  “ McDowell’s  College,” 
was  in  my  parish  in  St.  Louis,  and  I acted  as  chaplain  to  it  and  to 
the  hospital  attached.  There  were  from  1,000.  to  1,200  inmates  fre- 
quently imprisoned  there,  and  I know  how  deeply  these  southern 
soldiers  were  affected  by  the  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  the  Sisters, 
who  every  day  came  to  minister  to  and  console  them.  Very  few  of 
these  men  were  Catholics,  and  many  of  them  were  deeply  hostile  to 
the  Church,  yet  the  vast  majority  who  died  in  that  hospital,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  those  who  left  the  prison  (600  has  been  consid- 
ered a low  estimate),  received  Catholic  baptism.  They  believed, 
they  said,  that  the  Church  of  these  Sisters  must  be  the  Church  of 
God,  and  so  commenced  their  examination  of  its  doctrines.  The  same 
was  true  of  southern  prisons  containing  northern  soldiers.  The 
brave  men  on  both  sides  who  survived  could  never  afterwards  hear 
these  Sisterhoods  insulted  by  ignorant  bigotry.  Hence,  since  the 
war,  there  is  a great  change  in  popular  sentiment  in  relation  to  the 
Catholic  Church.  In  addition  to  this,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Catholics  and  Protestants  now  associate  more  frequently  and  inti- 
mately, and  understand  each  other  better.  Intelligent  Protestants 
are  gradually  disabused  of  the  old  notion  that  the  Catholics  exalt 
the  Blessed  Virgin  to  a position  equal  to  that  of  the  Son,  that  priests 
can  forgive  sins  according  to  their  pleasure,  that  images  may  be 
adored  after  the  fashion  of  the  pagans,  that  the  Bible  should  not  be 
read,  and  other  absurd  supposed  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  Church. 
Because  of  this  enlightenment,  and  because  ol  the  high  character  of 
American  converts  in  the  past,  men  like  Dr.  Brownson,  Dr.  Ives, 
Father  Hecker,  and  many,  many  others,  it  is  possible  that  some  of  the 
ablest  defenders  of  the  Church  in  this  coming  century  will  be  men 
who  are  at  present  in  the  ranks  of  her  opponents. 

But,  fathers  and  brethren,  whilst  we  are  grateful  for  the  bless- 
ings bestowed  by  Almighty  God  on  the  young  Church  of  these 
states  during  the  past  century,  whilst  we  unite  in  the  glorious  ‘ ‘ Te 
Deum  ” of  gratitude,  we  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  there  are  sta- 
tistics of  losses  known  only  to  the  mind  of  God,  that  many  have 
fallen  away  by  wilful  neglect  of  God's  grace,  that  many  have  been 
lost  by  mixed  marriages,  that  many  converts  would  have  entered  the 
Church  if  Catholics  had  been  individually  more  temperate  and  more 
edifying.  To-day  we  should  add  to  our  ‘‘Te  Deums”  our  acts 
of  contrition.  I believe,  also,  that  in  the  last  century  we  could 
have  done  more  for  the  colored  people  of  the  South,  and  the  Indian 
tribes.  I am  not  unmindful  of  the  zeal,  with  limited  resources  for  its 
exercise,  of  the  southern  Bishops,  nor  the  great  self-sacrifice  of  the 
Indian  missionaries,  who  in  the  spirit  of  primitive  Christianity,  gave 
their  lives  for  the  noble  but  most  unjustly-treated  Indian  tribes.  But 
as  I believe  that  negro  slavery  and  the  unjust  treatment  of  the  Indians 
are  the  two  great  blots  upon  the  American  civilization,  so  I feel  that  in 
the  Church  also,  the  most  reasonable  cause  for  regret  in  the  past 
century  is  the  fact  that  more  could  have  been  done  for  the  same  de- 
pendent classes.  Let  us  now,  in  the  name  of  God,  resolve  to  make 
reparation  for  these  shortcomings  of  the  past. 


On  the  very  threshold  of  the  new  century  I lately  beheld  a scene 
prophetic  of  this  reparation.  On  Thursday  last,  in  the  quiet  con- 
vent chapel  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  at  Pittsburgh,  I could  well 
imagine,  ranged  on  each  side  of  that  chapel,  the  representatives  of 
the  three  different  races  — on  one  side  the  Indians  and  the  colored,  on 
the  other  the  white  race  that  oppressed  both.  They  gazed  on  each 
other  with  no  fraternal  love.  And  then  I saw  going  out  from  the 
ranks  of  the  white  race  a fair  young  virgin.  Approaching  midway 
between  the  contending  lines,  she  knelt  before  the  illumined  altar, 
and  offered  her  great  fortune,  her  life,  her  love,  her  hopes,  her  ambi- 
tions for  the  Indian  and  colored  races.  She  seemed  the  Prophetess 
of  reparation  and  conciliation  between  the  races.  Silently  she 
offered  her  young  heart  to  God,  and  only  sighed  that  He  accept 
the  sacrifice,  and  that  until  the  grave  shall  receive  her,  all  she 
possesses  or  shall  possess,  may  belong  to  God,  and  to  the  Indian  and 
colored  peoples  ! She  hopes  to  found  a congregation  of  Catholic 
maidens  to  aid  her  in  this  great  work,  and  thus  inaugurate  the  great 
change,  and  help  to  make  it  perpetual. 

A magnificent  future  is  before  the  Church  in  this  country,  if  we 
are  only  true  to  her,  to  the  country,  and  to  ourselves.  She  has  demon- 
strated that  she  can  live  and  move  onwards  without  state  influence, 
that  the  atmosphere  of  liberty  is  most  congenial  to  her  constitution, 
and  most  conducive  to  her  progress.  Let  us  be  cordially  American 
in  our  feelings  and  sentiments,  and,  above  all,  let  each  individual 
act  out  in  his  personal  life  and  character  the  spirit  of  his  Catholic 
faith. 

On  ourselves  depends  the  future  of  the  Church  in  these  states. 
We  have  an  organization  perfectly  united.  We  have  dogmas  of 
religion  that  give  motive  for  restraint  of  human  passion,  appealing 
to  the  fear,  love,  and  gratitude  of  the  human  soul.  These  dogmas 
are  fixed  and  certain,  and  hence  so  powerful.  The  Church  is  alive, 
with  the  spirit  of  God  as  its  very  soul.  As  she  enters  on  this  second 
century  of  her  great  mission  here,  let  us  renew  our  spiritual  alle- 
giance to  her,  let  us  ever  glory  in  being  her  children,  and  endeavor 
to  prove  ourselves  worthy  of  the  name. 

And  do  Thou,  O Eternal  and  Most  Sacred  God  ! who  a century 
ago  blessed  this  infant  Church  then  persecuted,  ” this  poor  little  one 
tossed  with  tempest  and  without  all  comfort,  and  placed  her  stones 
in  order  and  her  foundations  in  sapphires,”  oh,  bless  her  again  to- 
day, as  she  enters  on  her  second  century  of  apostolic  mission  ! Send 
down  wisdom  that  sitteth  by  Thy  throne,  to  illumine  the  intellects 
of  her  Pontiffs,  priests,  and  people  ! Send  forth  Thy  spirit,  that  it  may 
brood  over  the  troubled  waters  and  the  moral  chaos  of  this  age,  and 
restore  peace  and  order  in  human  hearts  and  human  society.  Oh, 
give  to  this  fresh  young  Church  the  spirit  of  primitive  Christianity, 
its  courage,  its  mortification,  its  indifference  to  money,  and  cause  it 
to  conquer  the  bold,  agressive  paganism  of  the  nineteenth  century 
as  its  prototype  crushed  the  paganism  of  the  first,  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 


THE  EVENING  SERVICE. 

SOLEMN  PONTIFICAL  VESPERS  AND  SERMON  BY  THE  MOST 
REV.  ARCHBISHOP  OF  ST.  PAUL. 

At  no  time  during  the  day  was  the  cathedral  empty  of  wor- 
shippers, and  when  the  bells  rang  for  Solemn  Pontifical  Vespers  at 
half  past  seven  in  the  evening,  the  sacred  edifice  was  again  packed. 
Persons  entering  from  the  streets  outside,  brilliantly  lighted  by  nu- 
merous electric  lamps  placed  in  the  towers,  on  the  dome,  and  other 
advantageous  points  about  the  building,  were  struck  a little  by  the 
comparative  gloom  within.  But  when  the  altar  candles  had  been 
lit,  and  the  prelates  and  priests  had  entered  the  sanctuary  the  scene 
was  even  more  brilliant  than  that  in  the  morning,  as  the  interming- 
ling of  gas  and  candle  light  heightened  the  tones  of  color  of  the 
vestments,  and  set  the  jewels  of  ring  and  cross  flashing  many  hues. 
Seminarians  in  the  sanctuary,  and  the  augmented  choir  in  the  organ 
loft  rendered  the  Gregorian  music  of  the  vespers.  The  chants  were 
magnificently  given,  and  the  unison  of  the  male  voices  combined 
both  gravity  and  simplicity  in  the  dignified  sweetness  of  the  music, 
which  is  so  well  adopted  to  worship,  and  which  has  been  cherished 
for  ages  by  the  Catholic  Church.  Cardinal  Gibbons,  attended  by 
Monsignori  O’Connell  of  Rome,  and  Quigley,  of  Charleston,  S.  C., 
occupied  his  throne  on  the  gospel  side  of  the  sanctuary,  and  all  the 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


13 


clergy  and  prelates  present  were  within  the  sanctuary  line.  The  cel- 
ebrant was  Archbishop  Michael  Heiss,  of  Milwaukee,  the  assistant 
priest,  the  V.  Rev.  Dean  O’Brien,  of  Kalamazoo,  Mich.;  the  dea- 
con, the  Rev.  M.  P.  Abbelen,  of  Milwaukee,  and  the  sub-deacon,  the 
V.  Rev.  Joseph  Sasia,  S.  J.,  of  San  Francisco.  The  master  of 
ceremonies  was  the  same  as  at  Mass,  with  the  same  assistants. 
Archbishop  John  Ireland,  whose  eloquence  is  known  in  all  parts  ol 
this  country,  preached  the  sermon,  which  was  a broad,  scholarly 
review  of  the  prominent  tendencies  of  this  age,  a liberal  appeal  to 
separated  churches  to  enter  the  Catholic  fold,  and  an  urgent  call 
upon  all  Catholics,  clerical  and  lay,  men,  women  and  children  to 
unite  in  helping  on  the  cause  of  the  advance  of  the  Church  in 
America.  Following  is  the  full  report  of  the  sermon: 

ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND’S  SERMON. 

For  thy  soul  strive  for  justice,  and  even  unto  death  fight  for  justice,  and 
God  will  overthrow  thy  enemies  for  thee. — Ecclesiasticus  iv.  33. 

A century  closes;  a century  opens.  The  present  is  for  Catholics 
in  America  a most  solemn  moment.  Another  speaker  has  reviewed 
the  past,  evoked  from  its  shades  the  spirits  of  its  heroes,  and  read  to 
you  the  lessons  of  their  labors.  I will  bid  you  turn  to  the  future. 
It  has  special  significance  for  us.  The  past  our  fathers  wrought;  the 
future  will  be  wrought  by  us.  The  next  century  of  the  life  of  the 
Church  in  America  will  be  what  we  make  it.  It  will  be  our  own, 
the  fruit  of  our  labors.  Oh,  for  a prophet’s  eye  to  glance  adown 
the  unborn  years,  and  from  now  to  read  the  story  of  God’s  Church 
on  this  continent,  as  generations  a hundred  years  hence  may  read  it! 
But  the  prophet’s  eye  is  not  needed.  As  we  will  it,  so  shall  the 
story  be.  Brothers  — Bishops,  priests,  laymen,  in  what  words  shall 
I tell  the  responsibility  which  weighs  upon  us?  There  is  so  much 
at  stake  for  God  and  souls,  for  Church  and  country";  there  is  so  much 
in  dependency  upon  our  co-operation  with  the  divine  action  in  the 
world.  The  duty  of  the  moment,  surely,  is  to  understand  this 
responsibility,  and  to  do  the  full  work  which  Heaven  has  allotted  to 
us  — for  our  souls  to  strive  for  justice,  and  even  unto  death  to  fight 
for  justice. 

I would  sink  deeply  into  our  souls  the  vital  truth  that  the  work 
which  is  to  be  done  is  our  work.  With  us  it  will  be  done;  without 
us  it  will  not  be  done.  And  there  is  sore  need  to-day  that  Catholics 
ponder  well  this  truth.  Not  in  theory,  but  in  practice,  the  error 
obtains  among  them,  that  in  matters  religious  man  has  scarcely 
aught  to  do,  the  work  having  been  done  by  God.  Do  not  imagine  that 
I lose  sight  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  divine  act.  The  teaching 
of  faith  is  not  forgotten  that  1 ‘ unless  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they 
labor  in  vain  who  build  it.”  But  no  less  is  it  the  teaching  of  faith, 
that  in  producing  results  the  human  must  blend  with  the  divine, 
and  the  absence  of  the  one  renders  the  other  sterile.  Too  often  we  do 
not  do  our  part;  we  seem  to  wish  that  God  do  all.  God  will  not 
alter  the  rulings  of  His  providence  to  make  up  for  our  inaction. 
There  are  times  in  the  history  of  the  Church  when  the  need  is  that 
insistence  be  made  on  the  supernatural  in  the  work  of  religion. 
There  are  times  when  the  need  is  that  insistence  be  made  on  the 
natural.  Singular  phenomenon  of  our  times:  In  all  matters  out- 
side religion,  the  natural  has  unlimited  play  and  draws  out  for  action 
its  most  hidden  energies;  in  religion  it  looks  as  if  the  natural  sought 
to  extinguish  itself  so  as  to  leave  the  entire  field  to  the  supernatural. 
There  are  countries  where  the  faithful  Catholics  pray,  administer 
and  receive  the  sacraments,  and  are  afraid  to  go  a few  steps  further. 
I cannot  name  the  country  where  they  are  fully  alive  to  their  oppor- 
unities  and  their  duties.  Do  American  Catholics  put  into  the  work 
of  religion  the  sleepless  energy  and  the  boundless  heartiness  that 
characterize  them  in  secular  affairs?  As  we  often  are  and  often  do, 
ailure  in  religion  is  inevitable.  God  will  save  His  Church  in  all 
ftimes.  This  He  has  promised.  But  no  promise  was  given  as  to  the 
splendor  of  her  reign,  or  as  to  her  permanent  dwelling  among  a par- 
ticular people.  The  apocalyptic  candlestick  has  often  been  moved 
from  its  place.  There  are  bright  and  there  are  dark  lines  in  the 
Church’s  history.  God  always  did  His  part;  man’s  part  was  not 
always  done.  When  saints  walked  upon  the  earth,  their  pathway 
sparkled  with  rays  of  light  from  heaven,  and  the  surrounding 
atmosphere  was  made  ablaze.  What  shall  be  in  our  own  century 
the  lines  of  the  Church’s  history?  God  demands  that  we  make 
answer. 

Let  me  state,  as  I conceive  it,  the  great  work  which  in  God’s 
providence  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  are  called  to  do  within 
the  coming  century.  It  is  two  fold:  To  make  America  Catholic, 
and  to  solve  for  the  Church  Universal  the  all-absorbing  problem  with 


which  the  age  confronts  her.  I doubt  if  ever  since  that  century, 
the  dawn  of  which  was  the  glimmer  from  the  eastern  star,  there  was 
prepared  for  Catholics  of  any  nation  of  earth  a work  so  grandly 
noble  in  its  nature,  and  pregnant  with  such  mighty  consequences. 
The  work  gives  the  measure  of  our  responsibility. 

Our  work  is  to  make  America  Catholic.  If  we  love  America, 
if  we  love  the  Church,  to  mention  the  work  suffices.  Our  cry  shall 
be,  “God  wills  it,”  and  our  hearts  shall  leap  with  Crusader  enthusi- 
asm. We  know  the  Church  is  the  sole  owner  of  the  truths  and 
graces  of  salvation.  Would  we  not  that  she  pour  upon  the  souls  of 
friends  and  fellow-citizens  the  gifts  of  the  Incarnate  God  ? The 
touch  of  her  divine-made  hand  will  strengthen  and  sublimate  the 
rich  heritage  of  nature’s  virtues,  which  is  the  portion  of  America 
and  of  America’s  children;  it  will  superadd  the  deifying  treasures 
of  supernatural  life.  The  Catholic  Church  will  confirm  and  pre- 
serve, as  no  human  power  or  human  church  can,  the  liberties  of  the 
Republic.  We  know  that  by  the  command  of  the  Master,  it  is  the 
bounden  duty  of  the  Church  to  teach  all  nations.  To  lose  the 
apostolic  spirit  is  on  her  part  to  give  proof  that  she  is  unconscious 
of  the  truth  she  owns,  and  of  the  commission  under  which  she 
exists.  The  conversion  of  America  should  be  ever  present  to  the 
minds  of  Catholics  in  America  as  a supreme  duty  from  which  God 
will  not  hold  them  exempt.  Whatever  the  record  of  our  first  cent- 
ury of  Church  life,  the  record  of  the  second,  if  we  are  loyal  to  duty, 
will  tell  of  wondrous  extension  given  to  Christ’s  Church  over  the 
United  States  of  America. 

The  importance  of  the  possession  of  America  to  the  cause  of 
religion  cannot  well  be  overestimated.  It  is  a providential  nation. 
How  youthful,  and  yet  how  great!  How  rich  in  glorious  promise! 
A hundred  years  ago  the  states  exceeded  but  little  the  third  million 
in  population;  to-day  they  approach  the  sixty -fifth  million.  Streams 
of  immigration  from  the  lands  of  the  earth  are  turned  toward  us. 
There  is,  manifestly,  much  of  value  in  our  soil  and  air,  in  our  social 
and  political  institutions,  that  the  world’s  throngs  are  drawn  to  us. 
The  country  is  one  that  must  grow  and  prosper.  The  influence  of 
America  is  wide-spread  among  nations,  no  less  in  the  solution  of 
social  and  political  problems,  than  in  the  development  of  industry 
and  commerce.  There  is  not  a country  on  the  globe  which  does  not 
borrow  from  us  ideas  and  aspirations.  The  spirit  of  American 
liberty  wafts  its  spell  across  seas  and  oceans,  and  prepares  ground 
for  the  implanting  of  American  thoughts  and  fashions.  This  influ- 
ence will  grow  with  the  growth  of  the  nation.  Estimates  have  been 
made  as  to  our  population  a century  hence,  placing  it  at  400,000,000, 
due  allowance  made  in  this  computation  for  diminution  in  the  num- 
bers of  our  immigrants.  The  center  of  gravity  for  human  action  is 
rapidly  shifting,  and  in  the  not  distant  future  America  will  lead  the 
world.  The  native  character  of  the  American  people  fits  them  to  be 
leaders.  They  are  active,  aggressive,  earnest.  Whatever  they 
believe  they  act  out;  whatever  they  aim  for,  they  attain.  They  are 
utterly  incapable  of  the  indifference  to  living  interests,  and  the 
apathy  which,  under  the  specious  name  of  conservatism,  mark 
European  populations.  The  most  daring  elements  of  other  lands 
have  come  hither  to  form  a new  people — new  in  energy,  new  in 
spirit,  new  in  action — in  complete  adaptation  to  the  new  epoch  in 
the  world’s  history,  through  which  we  are  living.  We  cannot  but 
believe  that  a singular  mission  is  assigned  to  America,  glorious  for 
ourselves,  and  beneficent  to  the  whole  race,  that  of  bringing  forth  a 
new  social  and  political  order,  based  more  than  any  other  that  has 
heretofore  existed  upon  the  common  brotherhood  of  man,  and  more 
than  any  other  securing  to  the  multitude  of  the  people  social  happi- 
ness and  equality  of  rights.  I11  our  own  are  bound  up  the  hopes  of 
the  billions  of  the  whole  earth.  The  Church  triumphant  in 
America,  Catholic  truth  will  travel  on  the  wings  of  American 
influence,  and  with  it  encircle  the  universe. 

The  present  time  is  one  of  history’s  great  epochs,  when  the 
face  of  the  earth  is  changed.  The  world  is ’in  throes;  we  are  assist- 
ing at  the  birth  of  a new  age.  The  traditions  of  the  past  vanish; 
new  social  forms  arise,  and  new  political  institutions;  there  are 
astounding  discoveries  of  the  secrets  and  the  powers  of  nature;  un- 
wonted forces  are  at  work  in  every  sphere  over  which  man’s  control 
may  reach;  there  is  a revolution  in  the  ideas  and  feelings  of  men. 
All  things  which  may  be  changed,  will  be  changed,  and  nothing 
will  be  to-morrow  as  it  was  yesterday,  save  that  which  emanates 
directly  from  God,  or  which  the  Eternal  decrees  to  be  permanent. 
The  movements  of  the  modern  world  have  put  before  us  a startling 
question.  It  is  none  other  than  this:  Will  not  the  Church,  an  insti- 
tution of  past  ages,  go  down  with  other  legacies  of  those  ages? 
Why  should  she  alone  ride  triumphantly  above  the  billows  that  are 
sweeping  all  else  into  destruction?  Is  there  need  of  the  Church? 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


i4 


Is  she  not,  rather,  a barrier  to  the  best  ambitions  and  the  progressive 
march  of  humanity?  A reply  is  urgent.  It  can  be  given,  for  the 
Church  is  divine  and  belongs  to  all  ages.  But  the  more  speedily  and 
the  more  effectively  we  give  it,  the  better  for  Church  and  souls. 

A study  of  the  modern  world  brings  us  to  say  that  its  leading 
feature  is  a resolute  assertion  of  the  powers  and  rights  of  nature,  as 
distinguished  from  the  revealed  or  supernatural  order.  The  Chris- 
tian religion  displaced  in  the  life  of  mankind  1,900  years  ago 
the  reign  of  corrupt  nature,  known  as  paganism.  For  long  ages 
the  supernatural  was  supreme,  permeating  minds  and  hearts, 
reaching  out  its  influence  upon  social  institutions  and  govern- 
ments, upon  arts  and  industries,  the  natural  order  acting  in  fullest 
harmony  with  its  laws  and  spirit.  At  the  opening  of  the  six- 
teenth century  signs  of  new  times  appeared  on  the  horizon.  The 
Renaissance,  unconsc- 
iously perhaps,  sowed  in 
nature  the  seeds  of  re- 
bellion. The  inevitable 
reaction  from  the  teach- 
ings of  the  reformers  as 
to  the  total  depravity  of 
fallen  nature  quickened 
its  spirit  of  self-assertion. 

Then  came  the  wondrous 
feats  and  discoveries  of 
the  past  hundred  years, 
and  nature  was  embold- 
ened, and  it  proclaimed 
its  self-sufficiency  and  its 
independence.  The 
watchwords  of  the  age 
are  reason,  education, 
liberty,  the  material  im- 
provement of  the  masses. 

Nor  are  these  watch 
words  empty  sounds. 

They  represent  solid 
realities,  for  which  the 
age  deserves  praise. 

Rebellious  nature  lays 
claim  to  words  and  to 
realities,  as  if  they  were 
its  exclusive  belonging, 
obtained  not  only  by  its 
unaided  self,  but  in  spite 
of  the  supernatural.  War 
is  declared  against  the 
Church  and  all  revealed 
religion,  in  the  name  of 
progress  and  of  all  for- 
ward movements;  and 
combatants  ranged  under 
banners  upon  which  se- 
ductive words  are  in- 
scribed, easily  gather  to 
themselves  popular  ap- 
plause. The  war  is  be- 
tween the  natural  and 
the  supernatural.  The 
intent  is  toexcludeChrist 
and  His  Church  from  the 
living  world;  to  relegate 
them  amid  ruins  and 
sepulchres,  as  they  once 
relegated  paganism.  I need  not  tell  the  duty  of  Christians.  It 
is  to  maintain  in  the  world  the  supremacy  of  the  supernatural, 
and  save  the  age  to  the  Church. 

The  burden  of  the  strife  falls  to  the  lot  of  Catholics  in  America. 
The  movements  of  the  modern  world  have  their  highest  tension  in 
the  United  States.  The  natural  order  is  here  seen  at  its  best, 
and  here  displays  its  fullest  strength.  Here,  too,  the  Church 
unhampered  by  dictate  of  government  or  by  despotic  custom,  can, 
with  the  freedom  of  the  Son  of  Isai,  choose  its  arms,  and  making 
straight  for  the  opening  foe,  bring  the  contest  to  a speedier  close. 

I am  aware  there  are  those  among  us  who  do  not  partake  of  my 
hopefulness.  What  can  be  done,  they  say,  in  America  ? Catholics 
are  a handful — ten  millions  in  sixty-five — the  few  among  the  many, 
struggling  amid  temptations  and  prejudices.  The  preservation  of 
the  little  flock  in  the  faith  is  a herculean  task.  Most  illy  prepared 


are  we  to  reach  out  in  efforts  to  converting  our  fellow-citizens,  nor 
are  they  disposed  to  hearken  to  words  of  ours.  As  to  the  burning 
questions  agitating  the  world,  the  prospect  of  a solution  that  will 
satisfy  the  age  is  remote.  The  sky  above  us  is  cloud-laden,  and  no 
glimmer  of  light  pierces  through  it.  The  days  of  failing  faith  are 
upon  us.  The  refuge  of  each  one  is  to  flee  for  his  own  safety  to  the 
mountains,  and  await  in  silence  and  prayer  the  return  of  God’s 
vivifying  breath  upon  the  nations. 

Brethren,  hold  not  this  language  of  fear  and  distrust.  Ret 
Catholics  say  why  the  triumphs  of  other  days  are  not  possible  in 
our  times  and  country.  The  Church  is  to-day,  as  when  she  over- 
threw pagan  Rome,  and  won  over  to  grace  ferocious  Northmen,  the 
Church  of  divine  truth  and  divine  power.  Her  mission  is  to-day,  as 
then,  to  teach  all  nations,  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature, 

and  Christ  is  with  her, 
even  unto  the  consum- 
mation of  ages.  God’s 
arm  is  not  shortened. 
W/hat  can  be  wanting? 
Our  own  resolute  will  to 
put  to  profit  God’s  graces 
and  God’s  opportunities. 
“For  thy  soul  fight  for 
justice;  even  unto  death 
strive  for  justice,  and 
God  will  overthrow  thy 
enemies.  ’ ’ 

Why  should  we  fear 
or  hesitate  ? We  num- 
ber 10,000,000 — a pow- 
erful army  in  the  arena 
of  truth  and  justice,  if 
the  forces  are  well  mar- 
shalled, and  their  latent 
strength  brought  into 
action.  Catholics  in  Am- 
erica are  loyal  to  the  faith, 
brave  in  confessing  it, 
self-sacrificing  in  its  in- 
terests, devoted  to  their 
chieftains.  They  have 
waxed  strong  amid 
storms,  and  have  none 
of  the  liot-house  debility 
of  character  which  not 
seldom  marks  Catholics 
living  in  countries  where 
faith  feeds  on  ambient 
air.  Their  labors  and 
their  victories  in  the  first 
century  of  their  Church 
organization — a century 
of  poverty,  struggling, 
and  spiritual  destitution, 
— show  what  may  be 
done  with  them,  in  the 
century  of  adult  stature, 
conscious  power,  and 
completeness  of  hier- 
archial  organizations. 

The  non-C  a t h o 1 i c 
Americans  deserve,  by 
their  splendid  natural 
virtues,  that  we  labor 
hard  to  give  them  the  plentitude  of  Christ’s  faith,  and  neither 
in  disposition  nor  in  act  do  they  place  obstacles  in  our  pathway. 
They  are  clever,  intelligent,  ready  to  listen,  anxious  to  know 
what  is  the  truth.  They  are  fast  losing  the  old  traditional  prej- 
udices against  the  Church.  If  some  are  still  retained,  the  fault 
is  ours.  Either  we  have  not  proved  with  sufficient  clearness  our 
faith  by  our  works,  or  we  have  not  presented  to  their  minds 
truth  with  due  urgency,  and  in  the  manner  to  captivate  their  atten- 
tion. Their  alienation  from  the  Church  is  an  inherited  misfortune, 
not  their  own  doing.  They  have  deep  religious  instincts;  vital 
Christian  principles  are  rooted  in  their  modes  of  thought  and  social 
practices.  America  is  at  heart  a Christian  country.  As  a religious 
system  Protestantism  is  in  hopeless  dissolution,  utterly  valueless  as 
a doctrinal  or  moral  power,  and  no  longer  to  be  considered  a foe 
with  which  we  must  count.  The  American  people  are  generous, 


ST.  PATRICK'S  CATHEDRA!,,  NEW  YORK. 


Rt.  Rev.  Maurice  F.  Burke,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Cheyenne,  Wyo.  Ter. 


Rt.  Rev.  R.  Scannell,  D.  D. 
Bishop  of  Concordia,  Kan. 


Rt.  Rev.  John  J.  Hogan,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Kansas  City  and  St.  Joseph,  Mo. 


Rt.  Rev.  L.  M.  Fink,  O.  S.  B.,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Leavenworth,  Kan. 


i6 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


large-minded  and  large-hearted,  earnest  in  all  things,  sincerely  de- 
sirous of  moral  and  intellectual  growth.  To  repeat  the  words  of 
our  American  Catholic  publicist,  Mr.  Brownson,  “Never  since  her 
going  forth  from  that  upper  room  in  Jerusalem  has  the  Church 
found  a national  character  so  well  fitted  to  give  to  her  civilization 
its  highest  and  noblest  expression.”  The  supernatural  rests  on 
the  natural,  which  it  purifies  and  ennobles,  superadding  to  it  super- 
nal gifts  of  grace  and  glory.  Where  the  natural  ground  is  most 
carefully  cultivated,  there  shall  be  the  best  results  from  the  union 
of  nature  and  grace.  The  American  people  made  Catholics,  no- 
where shall  we  find  a higher  order  of  Christian  civilization. 

It  can  be  shown  to  the  American  people  that  they  need  the 
Church  for  the  preservation  and  complete  development  of  their 
national  character  and  their  social  order.  So  far,  their  civilization 
has  its  life  through  means  of  the  strong  Christain  element  pervading 
it,  which  has  remained  with  them  notwithstanding  their  separation 
from  the  Church.  This  element  is  rapidly  losing  its  vitality  amid 
the  disintegrating  processes  to  which  the  negations  of  Protestantism 
subject  it.  The  Catholic  Church  is  the  sole  living  and  enduring 
Christian  authority.  She  has  the  power  to  speak;  she  has  an  organ- 
ization by  which  her  laws  may  be  enforced.  The  American  people 
must  look  to  her  to  maintain  for  them  in  the  consciences  of  citizens 
the  principles  of  natural  equity  and  of  law,  without  which  a self- 
governing  people  will  not  exist,  falling  ultimately  into  chaotic 
anarchj7,  or  becoming  a prey  to  ambitious  despotism. 

Of  inestimable  advantage  to  us  is  the  liberty  the  Church  enjoys 
under  the  constitution  of  the  republic.  No  tyrant  here  casts 
chains  around  her;  no  concordat  limits  her  action,  or  cramps  her 
energies.  She  is  as  free  as  the  eagle  upon  the  Alpine  heights,  free 
to  spread  out  in  unobstructed  flight  her  pinions,  to  soar  to  highest 
altitudes,  to  put  into  action  all  her  native  energies.  The  law  of  the 
land  protects  her  in  her  rights,  and  asks  in  return  no  sacrifice  of 
these  rights,  for  her  rights  are  those  of  American  citizenship.  The 
republic  at  its  very  birth  guaranteed  liberty  to  Catholics  at  a time 
when,  in  nearly  all  other  lands,  Protestant  and  Catholic  govern- 
ments were  oppressing  her,  and  during  her  whole  history  she  has  not 
failed  to  make  good  her  guaranty.  This  present  day,  in  how  few 
lands  outside  our  own  the  Church  is  really  free!  If  great  things  are 
not  done  by  Catholics  in  America,  the  fault  lies  surely  with  themselves 
— not  with  the  republic. 

The  tendencies  and  movements  of  the  age,  which  affright  the 
timid,  are  providential  opportunities,  opening  the  way  for  us  to  most 
glorious  victor}7.  That  modern  ideas  and  movements  are  under  all 
their  aspects  deserving  of  approval,  I am  far  from  asserting.  They 
are,  often  in  one  way  or  other,  immoral  and  iniquitous,  and  Pius  IX 
has  warned  us  that  as  they  come  before  us  the  Church  cannot  be 
reconciled  to  them.  And  yet  how  much  there  is  in  them  that  is 
grand  and  good!  Despite  its  defects  and  its  mistakes,  I love  my  age. 
I love  its  aspirations  and  its  resolves.  I revel  in  its  feats  of  valor, 
its  industries,  and  its  discoveries.  I thank  it  for  its  many  benefac- 
tions to  my  fellow-men,  to  the  people  rather  than  to  princes  and 
rulers.  I seek  no  backward  voyage  across  the  sea  of  time,  I will 
ever  press  forward.  I believe  that  God  intends  the  present  to  be 
better  than  the  past,  and  the  future  to  be  better  than  the  present. 

Let  us  be  fair  to  the  age,  seeing  what  there  is  in  it  that  is  good, 
as  well  as  that  which  is  bad.  The  good  is  the  substantial,  the  pri- 
mary movement;  the  bad  is  but  the  accident,  the  misdirection  of  the 
movement.  The  movement  bubbles  forth  from  the  deepest  recesses 
of  humanity.  As  it  parts  from  its  source  it  is  upward;  it  makes  for 
the  elevation  of  the  race,  the  betterment  of  the  multitude,  the  exten- 
sion of  man’s  empire  over  nature.  Pass  in  review  its  shibboleths  — 
each  covers  a substantial  good,  finding  favor  in  the  eyes  of  God  and 
of  those  who  love  Him.  Knowledge  — it  is  the  feeding  of  our 
noblest  faculty,  the  intellect.  Science  — it  is  a peering  into  nature’s 
secrets,  the  glorious  works  of  the  all-wise  and  all-powerful  God. 
Liberty  — it  first  came  to  men  through  gospel  truth;  the  Church  has 
made  ceaseless  war  on  slavery  and  despotism,  and  the  trend  of  all 
Christianity  has  been  to  enlarge  the  race’s  heritage  of  civil  and 
political  liberty.  The  improvement  of  the  masses  — it  has  been  the 
constant  aim  of  Christian  charity;  it  is  the  practical  application  of 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  father- 
hood of  God. 

Material  comfort  of  the  people — there  is  abundant  room  for  it 
beneath  the  broad  mantle  of  Christian  love.  Asceticism,  beyond  that 
detachment  in  spirit  which  is  enjoined  upon  all,  is  the  privilege  of 
the  elect  few.  The  ideal,  for  both  religion  and  reason,  is  a sound 
mind  in  a sound  body,  and  whatever  interferes  with  either,  be  it 
hunger  or  malady,  be  it  overwork  or  tainted  air,  or  bad  drainage, 
true  godliness  will  labor  to  remove  it.  The  dreaded  word  socialism 


— it  is  in  its  first  outburst  the  shriek  of  despair  from  hungering 
souls  upon  which  presses  the  heavy  hand  of  greed  and  injustice, 
and  a foundation  for  many  of  its  demands  is  found  in  Catholic 
theology,  which  teaches  that  the  human  race  does  not  exist  for  the 
benefit  of  the  few,  and  that  private  property  becomes  common  prop- 
erty, w7hen  death  from  starvation  is  at  the  door.  And  so  it  is  with 
other  movements  of  the  age,  they  are  aspirations  toward  a perfect 
civilization,  toward  the  enjoyment  of  God’s  gifts  in  fullest  measure, 
and  by  the  largest  number  of  His  children.  That, they  run  riot  and 
plunge  into  fatal  errors,  leading  to  misery  and  ruin,  I repeat,  is  the 
accident  arising  from  the  absence  of  correct  direction.  Why  have 
but  anathemas  for  the  age,  seeing  but  its  aberrations,  irritating  it 
by  continuous  denunciations  of  its  mistakes,  never  acknowledging 
the  good  in  it,  or  striving  to  win  over  its  love  to  Holy  Church? 

We  can,  if  we  wish,  make  the  age  the  relentless  enemy  of 
religion.  It  is  possible,  by  coldness  and  harshness,  to  drive  it  to 
despair;  meanwhile  irreligion  and  secularism,  wise  in  their  genera- 
tion, steal  from  us  sacred  words,  which  the  age  pants  to  hear,  which 
we  refuse  to  speak  to  it,  and  sounding  aloud  those  words,  they  draw 
the  age  into  desert  wastes  to  its  misery  and  utter  ruin.  It  belongs 
to  us  to  lose  the  age  or  to  make  it  the  devoted  and  grateful  child  of 
Christ’s  religion. 

The  age  is  impassioned  for  gifts  which  the  Church  alone  can 
bestow.  Its  present  energies  and  ambitions  are  the  fruits  of  the 
work  of  the  Church.  Through  Christian  influences  has  it  risen  to 
this  degree  of  power  and  consciousness  that  it  -aspires  to  higher 
things.  The  religion  of  Christ  first  whispered  into  the  ears  of  the 
world  the  sacred  words,  charity,  brotherhood,  liberty.  The  religion 
of  Christ  took  to  its  bosom  bleeding,  agonizing  humanity,  warmed 
it  with  love  divine,  healed  its  sores  and  breathed  into  it  health  and 
vigor.  Only  under  the  blessed  guidance  of  religion  can  humanity 
proceed  on  the  road  toward  greater  progress.  Irreligion  has  stolen 
from  the  Church  words;  it  did  not  steal  the  realities,  which  have  no 
existence  away  from  God’s  altars.  Tell  all  this  to  the  age,  and  say 
to  it:  “Passing  by  and  seeing  your  idols,  I found  also  an  altar  on 
which  was  written  ‘To  the  unknown  God.’  What,  therefore,  you 
worship  without  knowing,  that  I preach  to  you.”  Tell  all  this  to 
the  age,  and  work  to  make  good  your  assertions.  Bid  science, 
beneath  the  spell  of  religion’s  wand,  put  on  brightest  pinions  and 
covet  widest  flights.  Whisper  in  tender  accents  to  liberty  that 
religion  cherishes  it,  and  stands  ready  to  guard  it  alike  from  anarchy 
and  despotism.  Go  down  in  sympathy  to  the  suffering  multitude, 
bringing  to  them  charity,  and  what  is  more  needed  and  more  rarely 
given,  justice.  Let  labor  know  that  religion  will  ward  off  the 
oppression  of  capital,  and  teach  capital  that  its  rights  are  dependent 
upon  its  fulfilment  of  duties.  You  will  give  to  the  world  the  new 
religion  for  which  it  pants  and  prays — the  religion  of  humanity — 
the  religion  of  the  age,  which  shall  still  be  the  old  religion,  nothing 
changing  in  God’s  truths,  “the  householder”  bringing  forth  out  of 
his  treasure  “new  things  and  old,”  and  the  age  will  rush  to  the 
arms  of  the  Church  and  in  ecstasy  will  proclaim  her  its  teacher  and 
its  queen. 

The  greatest  epoch  of  human  history,  if  we  except  that  which 
witnessed  the  coming  of  God  upon  earth,  is  with  us;  and  wisdom 
and  energy  on  our  part  will  make  the  Church  supreme  mistress  of 
the  epoch. 

Permit  that  I make  brief  mention  of  certain  lines  of  duty, 
fidelity  to  which  is  a condition  to  the  realization  of  our  hopes  for  the 
new  century. 

I will  repeat:  “ For  thy  soul  fight  for  justice,  and  even  unto 
death  strive  for  justice.”  Earnestness  is  the  virtue  of  the  hour.  It 
is  the  characteristic  of  Americans  in  things  secular;  it  should  be 
their  characteristic  in  things  religious.  Let  Catholics  elsewhere,  if 
they  will,  move  on  in  old  grooves,  and  fear,  lest  by  quickened  pace 
they  disturb  their  souls  or  ruffle  their  garments.  Our  motto  be: 
Dare  and  do.  Be  there  no  room  among  us  for  lackadaisical  piety 
which  lazily  awaits  a zephyr  from  the  sky,  the  bearer  of  efficacious 
grace,  while  God’s  grace  is  at  hand  entreating  to  be  made  efficacious 
by  our  own  co-operation.  We  must  pray,  and  pray  earnestly,  but  we 
must  work  and  work  earnestly.  If  we  work  and  do  not  pray,  we 
have  not  God’s  help  and  we  fail,  and  so  shall  we  fail  if  we  are  on 
our  knees  when  we  should  be  fleet  of  foot;  if  we  are  in  the  sanctu- 
ary when  we  should  be  in  the  highways  and  the  market  places. 

Earnestness  will  make  us  aggressive.  There  will  be  among  us 
a prudent  but  manly  assertion  of  faith  whenever  circumstances  sug- 
gest it,  and  a determination  to  secure  to  Catholics  rightful  recogni- 
tion, whether  in  private  or  public  life.  We  shall  seek  our  opportuni- 
ties to  serve  religion,  and  shall  never  pass  them  by  unheeded,  when 
they  offer.  We  are  often  cowards,  and  to  cover  up  our  cowardice 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


17 


we  invoke  modesty  and  prudence,  as  if  Christ  had  ordered  us  to  put 
our  light  under  the  bushel.  If  the  Church  is  slighted,  or  treated 
unfairly,  we  complain  — we  are  admirable  at  complaining — but  we 
would  not  stir  to  prevent  future  injustice.  There  is  a woful  lack 
of  Catholic  public  spirit;  we  are  devoted  to  religion  on  Sunday,  or 
when  saying  our  evening  prayers.  In  the  world’s  battles  we  seem 
not  to  know  it,  and  our  public  men  are  eager  to  doff  all  Catholic 
vesture.  In  our  American  parlance,  let  us  go  ahead.  What  if  we 
do  at  times  blunder?  Success  is  not  the  test  of  valor  or  merit.  If 
we  never  venture  we  shall  never  gain.  The  conservatism  which  is 
resolved  to  be  ever  safe  is  dry-rot.  Pay  no  attention  to  criticism; 
there  is  never  a lack  of  it,  and  it  usually  comes  from  the  men  who 
are  do-nothings,  and  who  rejoice  if  failure  follows  action  so  as  to 
find  there  justification  for  their  idleness.  Do  not  fear  the  novel, 
provided  principles  are  well  guarded.  It  is  a time  of  novelties  — 
and  religious  action,  to  accord  with  the  age,  must  take  new  forms 
and  new  directions.  Let  there  be  individual  action.  Dayman  need 
not  wait  for  priest,  nor  priest  for  Bishop,  nor  Bishop  for  Pope.  The 
timid  move  in  crowds,  the  brave  in  single  file.  When  combined 
efforts  are  called  for  be  ready  and  at  all  times  be  prompt  to  obey 
when  orders  are  given;  but  with  all  this  there  is  vast  room  for 
individual  action,  and  vast  good  to  be  done  by  it. 

We  should  live  in  our  age,  know  it,  be  in  touch  with  it.  There 
are  Catholics  more  numerous,  however,  in  Europe  than  in  America, 
to  whom  the  present  will  not  be  known  until  long  after  it  shall  have 
become  the  past.  Our  work  is  in  the  present,  and  not  in  the  past. 
It  will  not  do  to  understand  the  thirteenth  better  than  the  nineteenth 
century;  to  be  more  conversant  with  the  errors  of  Arius  or 
Eutyches,  than  those  of  contemporary  infidels  or  agnostics;  to  study 
more  deeply  the  causes  of  Albigensian  or  Dutheran  heresies,  or  the 
French  revolution,  than  the  causes  of  the  social  upheavals  of  our 
own  times.  The  world  has  entered  into  an  entirely  new  phase;  the 
past  will  not  return;  reaction  is  the  dream  of  men  who  see  not,  and 
hear  not;  who  sit  at  the  gates  of  cemeteries  weeping  over  tombs  that 
shall  not  be  reopened,  in  utter  oblivion  of  the  living  world  back  of 
them.  W should  speak  to  our  age  — of  things  it  feels  and  in 
language  it  understands.  We  should  be  in  it,  and  of  it,  if  we  would 
have  its  ear. 

For  the  same  reasons,  there  is  needed  a thorough  sympathy 
with  the  country.  The  Church  of  America  must  be,  of  course,  as 
Catholic  as  ever  in  Jerusalem  or  Rome;  but  so  far  as  her  garments 
assume  color  from  the  local  atmosphere  she  must  be  American.  Let 
no  one  dare  paint  her  brow  with  foreign  tint,  or  pin  to  her  mantle 
foreign  linings.  There  is  danger;  we  receive  large  accessions  of 
Catholics  from  foreign  countries.  God  witnesses  it  they  are  welcome. 
I will  not  intrude  on  their  personal  affections  and  tastes;  but  those, 
if  foreign,  shall  not  incrust  upon  the  Church.  ' Americans  have 
no  longing  for  a church  with  foreign  aspect;  it  would  wield  no  influ- 
ence over  them.  In  no  manner  could  it  prosper;  exotics  have  never 
but  sickly  forms.  America  treats  us  well;  her  flag  is  our  protection. 
Patriotism  is  a Catholic  virtue.  I would  have  Catholics  be  the  first 
patriots  in  the  land.  There  are  fitting  occasions,  when  the  Church 
officially  will  show  forth  her  love  of  America,  blessing  the  country, 
offering  thanks  in  its  name,  invoking  favors  upon  it.  There  are 
occasions  without  number  when  Catholics,  as  citizens,  can  prove  their 
patriotism;  they  should  be  eager  to  avail  themselves  of  them.  The 
men  most  devoted  to  the  institutions  of  the  country,  the  most  ardent 
lovers  of  its  flag,  should  be  they  who  breathe  the  air  of  Catholic 
sanctuaries  and  who  believe  in  Catholic  truth.  Be  they  models  of 
civic  virtue,  taking  an  abiding  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  bearing 
cheerfully  their  part  of  the  public  burdens.  Be  they  ever  pure- 
minded  and  clean-handed  in  the  exercise  of  their  civic  privileges. 

It  is  an  intellectual  age.  It  worships  intellect.  All  things  are 
tried  by  the  touchstone  of  intellect,  and  the  ruling  power,  public 
opinion,  is  formed  b}r  it.  The  Church  will  be  judged  by  the  standard 
of  intellect.  Catholics  must  excel  in  religious  knowledge  — ready 
to  give  reasons  for  the  faith  that  is  in  them,  meeting  objections  from 
whatever  source,  keeping  up  with  the  times.  They  must  be  in  the 
foreground  of  all  intellectual  movements.  Religious  knowledge 
needs  for  its  completeness  the  secular.  The  age  will  not  take  kindly 
to  the  former  if  separated  from  the  latter.  The  Church  must  regain 
the  sceptre  of  science,  which  to  her  honor  and  the  favor  of  the  world 
she  wielded  gloriously  for  ages  in  the  past.  An  important  work  for 
Catholics  in  the  coming  century  will  be  the  building  up  of  schools, 
colleges,  and  seminaries;  and  what  is  still  more  important,  the  lifting 
up  of  present  and  future  institutions  to  the  highest  degree  of  intel- 
lectual excellence.  Only  the  best  schools  will  give  the  Church  the 
men  she  needs.  Modern,  too,  must  they  be  in  the  curriculum  and 
method,  so  that  pupils  emerging  from  their  halls  will  be  men  for  the 


twentieth  century  and  men  for  America.  In  love,  in  reverence,  in 
hope  I salute  the  Catholic  University  of  America,  whose  birth  — 
happy  omen!  — is  coeval  with  the  opening  of  our  new  century.  The 
destinies  of  the  Church  in  America  are  in  thy  keeping,  school  of  our 
hopes.  May  heaven’s  light  shine  over  thee  and  heaven’s  love  guard 
thee.  Be  ever  faithful  to  thy  motto,  Deo  et  Patrice.  Hasten  thy 
work,  so  that  soon  our  youth,  whatever  be  the  vocation  to  which 
they  aspire,  may  throng  thy  halls,  and  be  fitted  out  by  thee  to  be 
ideal  children  of  Church  and  country.  Meanwhile,  O,  School  of 
our  Hope,  nurture  well  our  youthful  priesthood.  They  will  be 
leaders,  and  as  they  are  formed  so  will  the  whole  army  of  God’s 
soldiers  bear  themselves  in  the  battles  of  life. 

I do  not  forget  the  vast  importance  for  the  Church  of  Catholic 
literature  and  of  the  Catholic  press.  They,  too,  are  schools,  and 
schools  not  only  for  the  days  of  youth,  but  for  the  entire  time  of  life, 
and  they  deserve,  and  should  obtain,  our  warmest  encouragement. 

The  strength  of  the  Church  to-day  in  all  countries,  particularly 
in  America,  is  the  people.  This  is  essentially  the  age  of  democracy. 
The  days  of  princes  and  of  feudal  lords  are  gone;  monarchs  hold 
their  thrones  to  execute  the  will  of  the  people.  Woe  to  religion 
where  this  fact  is  not  understood!  He  who  holds  the  masses,  reigns. 
The  masses  are  held  by  their  intellect  and  their  heart.  No  power 
controls  them,  save  that  which  touches  their  own  free  souls.  We 
have  a dreadful  lesson  to  learn  from  certain  European  countries,  in 
which,  from  weight  of  tradition,  the  Church  clings  to  thrones  and 
classes,  and  loses  her  grasp  upon  the  people.  Let  us  not  make  this 
mistake.  We  have  here  no  princes,  no  hereditary  classes.  Still 
there  is  the  danger  that  there  be  in  religion  a favored  aristocracy, 
upon  whom  we  lavish  so  much  care  that  none  remains  for  others. 
Do  we  not  incline  to  fence  ourselves  within  the  sanctuary,  and  see 
only  the  little  throng  of  devout  persons  who  weekly  or  monthly 
kneel  around  the  altar  rail,  or  those  whose  title  to  nobility  is  that 
they  are  pew-holders  and  respond  to  pastor’s  call  for  generous  sub- 
scriptions? Pews  and  pew-holders  may  be  necessary  evils;  it  were 
fatal  not  to  look  far  beyond  them.  What,  I ask,  of  the  multitude 
who  peep  at  us  from  gallery  and  vestibule?  What  of  the  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands,  nominal  Catholics  or  non-Catholics,  who  sel- 
dom or  never  open  church  door?  What  of  the  uncouth  and  the 
unkempt,  the  tenant  of  the  cellar  and  alley-way,  the  mendicant  and 
the  outcast?  It  is  time  to  bring  back  the  primitive  gospel  spirit,  to 
go  out  into  highways  and  byways,  to  preach  on  house  tops  and  in 
market  places.  Erect  stately  churches  if  you  will;  they  are  grand 
monuments  to  religion,  but  be  they  filled  with  people. 

If  all  are  not  there  press  the  absentees  to  hear  you  beneath 
humbler  roof.  If  some  remain  yet  outside  speak  to  them  in  the 
streets  or  in  the  public  road.  The  time  has  come  for  “salva- 
tion armies  ’ ’ to  penetrate  the  wildest  thicket  of  thorns  and  briars, 
and  bring  God’s  word  to  the  ear  of  the  most  vile,  the  most  ignorant, 
and  the  most  godless.  Saving  those  who  insist  on  being  saved,  as 
we  are  satisfied  in  doing,  is  not  the  mission  of  the  Church.  “ Com- 
pel them  to  come  in  ’ ’ is  the  command  of  the  Master.  This  is  not  the 
religion  we  need  to-day — to  sing  lovely  anthems  in  Cathedral  stalls, 
and  wear  copes  of  broidered  gold,  while  no  multitude  throng  nave 
or  aisle,  and  the  world  outside  is  dying  of  spiritual  and  moral  star- 
vation. Seek  out  men;  speak  to  them  not  in  stilted  phrase  or 
seventeenth-century  sermon  style,  but  in  burning  words  that  go  to 
their  hearts,  as  well  as  their  minds.  Popularize  religion,  so  far  as 
principles  permit;  make  the  people  chant  in  holy  exultation  canticles 
ol  praise  and  adoration;  draw  them  to  God  by  all  the  chords  of 
Adam.  Save  the  masses.  Cease  not  planning  and  working  for 
their  salvation. 

The  care  of  the  masses  implies  an  abiding  and  active  interest 
in  the  social  questions  that  torment  at  the  present  time  humanity. 
Our  chieftain,  Leo  XIII,  who  knows  his  age,  and  whose  heart-beat- 
ings are  in  sympathy  with  it,  has  told  Catholics  their  duties  on  this 
point,  and  some  two  years  ago  he  recommended  that  social  questions 
be  made  a part  of  the  special  curriculum  of  studies  which  are  to  fit 
priests  for  their  ministerial  labors.  From  whatever  cause  there  are 
fearful  social  injustices.  Men  made  to  the  image  of  the  Creator,  are 
viewed  as  pieces  of  machinery  or  beasts  of  burden,  and  the  moral 
instincts  are  ground  out  of  them,  and,  until  their  natural  condition 
is  improved,  it  is  futile  to  speak  to  them  of  supernatural  life  and 
duties.  The  sufferers  are  conscious  of  their  wrongs,  and  they  will 
hold  as  their  friends  those  who  aid  them.  Irreligion  makes  prom- 
ises to  them,  and  irreligion  is  winning  them  over.  They  who  should 
be  the  first  and  the  last  in  promise  and  deed,  are  silent.  It  is 
deplorable  that  Catholics  have  grown  timid,  take  refuge  in  cloister 
and  sanctuary,  and  leave  the  bustling,  throbbing  world  in  its 
miseries  and  sins  to  the  wiles  of  false  friends  and  shrewd  practition- 


r8 


THE  CENTENARY  CELEBRATION. 


ers.  Leo  XIII  speaks  fearlessly  to  the  world  of  the  rights  of  labor; 
Cardinal  Lavigerie  pleads  for  tire  African  slave;  Cardinal  Manning 
interposes  his  hand  between  the  plutocratic  merchant  and  the  work- 
ingman of  the  docks;  Count  de  Mun  and  his  band  of  noble-minded 
friends,’ devote  talent  and  time  to  the  interests  of  French  laborers. 

As  a body,  we  are  quietness  itself.  We  say  our  prayers,  we 
preach,  we  listen  to  sermons  on  the  love  of  God  and  resignation  in 
suffering;  or,  if  we  venture  into  the  arena,  it  is  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
when  others  have  long  before  preceded  us,  and  public  opinion  is 
already  formed.  Singular  is  all  this.  Christ  made  the  social  ques- 
tion the  very  basis  of  His  ministry;  the  evidence  of  His  divinity  was: 
“The  blind  see,  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the 
poor  have  the  Gospel  preached  to  them.’’  The  Church  in  her  whole 
past  history  grappled  with  every  social  problem  that  came  in  her 
way,  and  solved  it.  The  Church  liberated  the  Roman  slave,  raised 
up  woman,  civilized  the  barbarian,  humanized  mediaeval  warfare,  and 
gave  civic  rights  to  the  child  of  serfdom.  What  has  come  over  us 
that  we  shun  the  work  which  is  essentially  ours  ? These  are  days 
of  warfare,  days  of  action.  It  is  not  the  age  of  the  timid  and  fugi- 
tive virtue  of  the  Thebaid.  Into  the  arena,  priest  and  layman. 
Seek  out  social  grievances;  lead  in  movements  to  heal  them.  Speak 
of  vested  rights,  for  this  is  necessary;  but  speak,  too,  of  vested 
wrongs,  and  strive,  by  private  word  and  example,  by  the  enactment 
and  enforcement  of  good  laws,  to  correct  them.  Peep  mercifully 
into  factories,  at  etiolated  youth  and  infancy.  Breathe  fresh  air  into 
the  crowded  tenement  quarters  of  the  poor.  Follow  upon  the  streets 
the  crowds  of  vagrant  children.  Visit  prisons  and  secure  for  the 
inmates  moral  and  religious  instruction.  Lessen  on  railways  and  in 
public  service  Sunday  work,  which  renders  for  thousands  the  prac- 
tice of  religion  impossible.  Cry  out  against  the  fearful  evil  oi 
intemperance,  which  is  damning  hourly  the  bodies  and  souls  of 
countless  victims,  and  which  at  the  present  time  is  bringing  more 
than  any  other  social  sin  disgrace  upon  the  Church,  and  misery  to 
her  children.  Into  the  arena,  I repeat,  and  do  the  work  before  you 
in  this  age  and  this  country,  caring  not  for  olden  customs  of  the 
dead,  or  for  sharp  criticisms  from  the  living  — fighting  at  every 
point  for  justice  with  bravery  and  perseverance.  This  will  be 
“religion  pure  and  undefiled.’’  This  will  secure  the  age  to  God's 
Church. 

I do  not  overlook  our  duty  to  our  non-Catholic  brethren.  We 
must  earnestly  desire  their  conversion,  and  earnestly  work  for  it' 
No  doubt  our  prayers,  our  good  example,  the  fulfilment  of  the  sev- 
eral duties  I have  mentioned  will  be  the  surest  means  to  success. 
Still  I believe  there  ought  to  be  instruction  specially  adapted  to  their 
intellectual  needs,  whether  or  not  directly  addressed  to  them.  Efforts 
should  be  made  to  bring  them  to  our  churches,  and  kind  attention 
shown  to  them  when  they  do  attend.  Books  should  be  prudently 
distributed  among  them.  Above  all  should  we  know  them,  and  sin- 
cerely loving  them  desire  their  conversion.  We  repel  them  by  prej- 
udices; we  do  not  make  sufficient  allowance  for  good  intention;  nor 
do  we  acknowledge  always  the  degree  of  Christian  truth  and  Chris- 
tian practice,  which  they  possess.  Be  just,  admit  what  they  have, 
tell  them  what  they  have  not.  Myself,  I have  much  confidence 
that  truth  will  spread  among  my  non-Catliolic  fellow-citizens,  if 


Catholics  do  their  duty,  and  I am  sure  that  once  made  Catholics, 
they  will,  by  their  zeal  and  activity,  rank  among  the  most  loyal  and 
most  devoted  of  the  Church’s  children. 

What  I have  heretofore  said  applies  to  all — to  priests,  who  as 
leaders  must  be  first  to  act,  as  well  as  in  command,  and,  also,  in 
great  part  at  least,  to  laymen.  But  lest  I be  misunderstood  in  a 
matter  of  such  importance,  I now  make  to  laymen  a special  and 
emphatic  appeal.  Priests  are  officers.  You  are  soldiers.  The  hard- 
est fighting  is  often  done  by  the  soldiers,  and  in  the  warfare  against 
error  and  sin,  the  soldier  is  not  always  near  the  officer,  and  he  must 
be  ready  to  strike  without  waiting  for  the  command.  Laj-men  are 
not  anointed  in  confirmation  to  the  end  that  they  merely  save  their 
own  souls,  and  pay  their  pew  rent.  They  must  think,  work,  organ- 
ize, read,  speak,  act,  as  circumstances  demand,  ever  anxious  to 
serve  the  Church,  and  to  do  good  to  their  fellow-men.  There  is,  on 
the  part  of  the  Catholic  laymen,  too  much  leaning  upon  priests.  If 
priests  work,  laymen  imagine  they  can  rest.  In  Protestantism, 
where  there  is  no  firmly  constituted  ministerial  organization,  the  lay- 
man feels  more  his  responsibility,  and  there  is  often  witnessed  strong 
lay  action.  In  America,  in  the  present  age,  lay  action  is  particularly 
needed  for  the  Church.  Laymen  have  in  this  age  a special  vocation. 

My  words  have  borne  on  the  exterior  life  of  Catholics.  This 
point  I desired  to  emphasize.  I am  speaking  to  men  of  action,  to 
soldiers,  whom  I would  arouse  to  deeds  of  highest  value.  God  for- 
bid that  I forget  the  need  of  interior  Christian  life.  Without  this 
we  are  at  best  but  sounding  brass  and  tinkling  cymbals,  and  however 
much  we  may  plant  and  water,  God  wfill  not  give  the  growth.  Nor 
do  I forget  that  however  much  I desire  you  to  do  to  others,  your  first 
and  all-important  duty  is  to  yourselves,  to  save  your  own  souls. 

And  now  opens  the  new  century.  O God,  we  pray  thee,  grant 
to  us  that  we  understand  its  possibilities  and  its  promises  ; grant 
that  we  be  true  to  our  responsibilities.  Had  I this  night  the  power, 
as  I have  the  will,  I would  bid  the  seraph  with  coal  of  fire  from  the 
altar  of  divine  love  seal  hearts  and  lips  of  priests  and  laymen  of 
America,  and  set  them  aglow  wyith  Pentecostal  flame.  O,  that  we 
all  be  what  God  desires  us  to  be,  worthiest  apostles  of  His  blessed 
Gospel!  We  ourselves  doing  with  our  might  the  work  appointed 
for  us,  we  are  certain  that  the  new  century  has  wondrous  things  in 
store  for  the  Church  in  America. 

O Saviour  of  men,  who  hast  said  : “I  am  come  to  send  fire  on 
the  earth,  and  what  will  I but  that  it  be  kindled?’’ — into  Thy 
hands  we  remit  this  new  century.  By  a superabundance  of  love  and 
grace,  make  amends  for  whatever  the  deficiencies  in  us.  Bless  us, 
and  make  our  labors  fructify  even  unto  a hundred  fold.  For  the 
sake  of  Holy  Church,  Thy  own  spouse,  whom  Thou  hast  purchased 
by  the  shedding  of  Thine  own  blood,  widen  out  over  this  continent 
the  skins  of  her  tabernacles  ; gather  unto  her  bosom  all  tribes  and 
nations  ; shed  upon  her  brow  glory  and  honor.  O Saviour,  we  pray 
Thee,  renew  for  Thy  Church  in  America  the  miracles  of  love  and 
piety  of  apostolical  days.  Look  down  with  most  gracious  eyes 
upon  our  country,  made  by  heaven  so  fair,  so  rich  in  nature’s  gifts  ; 
add  unto  them  the  favors  of  grace,  and  let  America  be  what  our 
hearts  wish  her,  for  long  ages  to  come,  in  civil  freedom  and  social 
happiness,  the  most  Christian  among  the  nations  of  earth  ! 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS 


Held  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  November  n and  12,  1889. 


Beginning  with  Solemn  Pontifical  Mass  Monday  at  the  cathe- 
dral and  concluding  with  the  brilliant  torch  light  parade  Tuesday 
night,  the  first  Catholic  congress  in  the  United  States  was  most  suc- 
cessful, and  the  interest  and  enthusiasm  shown  by  all  the  partici- 
pants gave  augury  of  great  results.  At  the  Mass  the  celebrant  was 
the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Corrigan,  of  New  York  ; assistant  priest, 
Mgr.  A.  J.  Donnelly,  V.  G.,  of  New  York  ; deacon,  the  Rev.  M.  J. 
McBride,  of  the  cathedral,  Harrisburg,  Pa.;  sub-deacon,  the  Rev. 
Hugh  Roe  O’Donnell,  of  St.  Mary  Star  of  the  Sea,  East  Boston, 
Mass.;  master  of  ceremonies,  the  Rev.  J.  A.  McCallen,  of  St.  Pat- 
rick’s, Montreal  ; assistants,  the  Rev.  Henry  C.  Grady,  and  Semi- 
narian James  Nolen  ; thurifer,  the  Rev.  John  J.  Dennison  ; crucifer, 
the  Rev.  Robert  E.  O’ Kane,  and  acolytes,  Messrs.  Ramm  and  Gorey. 
Cardinal  Gibbons  was  attended  by  Rt.  Rev.  Mgr.  Boff,  V.  G. , of 
Cleveland,  and  Rev.  M.  J.  Lavelle,  of  New  York;  and  Cardinal 
Taschereau  by  Rt.  Rev.  Mgri.  Windthorst  and  Marois.  The  music 
included  Gounod’s  Messe  Solennelle  and  Diabelli’s  Gaudcamus. 

After  the  Mass  Archbishop  Gross,  of  Oregon,  delivered  the 
address  of  welcome  to  the  delegates,  as  follows  : 

ARCHBISHOP  GROSS’S  SERMON. 

Your  Eminences , Most  Reverend , Right  Reverend , Reverend 
Fathers , and  Dearly  Beloved  Brethren  : — Upon  me  has  fallen  the 
pleasant  duty  of  welcoming  the  delegates  to  our  Catholic  congress. 
I am  happy  to  see  it  in  my  native  city,  Baltimore.  A son  is  always 
proud  when  another  gem  is  inserted  in  the  wreath  on  his  mother’s 
brow — proud  to  show  to  the  world  outside  the  links  of  union  that 
unite  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  clergy;  and  it  should  be  so,  first  of 
all,  for  our  mutual  interest.  Our  faith  should  be  as  dear  to  the  peo- 
ple as  to  us,  and  the  people  have  shown  this  by  their  willingness  to 
make  any  sacrifice  rather  than  surrender  their  faith.  When  the  yel- 
low fever  desolated  the  land,  the  people  and  the  priests  imperiled, 
and  even  sacrificed,  their  lives.  This  union  of  the  people  and  clergy 
is  good  and  necessary.  The  history  of  the  past  has  shown  it. 
When  the  Turks  threatened  all  of  Europe,  the  Pope  and  bishops 
aroused  the  people  in  their  congresses  and  drove  back  the  tide  of 
Turkish  barbarism.  This  is  an  opportune  time  for  the  congress, 
when  standing  at  the  end  of  the  first  century  of  the  existence  of  the 
church  in  the  United  States,  and  while  we  acknowledge  what  great 
and  glorious  work  has  been  done  during  the  past  hundred  years,  we 
can  learn  wisdom  from  mistakes  and  losses  owing  to  human  frailty 
that  have  been  inflicted  upon  the  church.  You  must  acknowledge 
that  our  institutions  are  young,  and  therefore  need  a fostering  care. 
You  must  also  remember  that  there  are  great  questions  to  be  solved; 
there  are  dangers  ahead,  and  there  are  great  evils  afflicting  society. 
You  must  remember  that  we  have  three  great  enemies  — the  devil, 
the  world,  and  the  flesh.  We  believe  in  the  existence  of  the  devil. 
He  is  an  angel,  though  fallen,  and  possesses  all  the  wonderful  pow- 
ers of  his  angelic  nature.  He  hates  us,  and  hates  God,  and  goeth 
about  like  a roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour.  We  have 
to  fear  the  world,  with  its  corrupt  maxims  and  principles.  We  also 
know  that  there  are  some  who,  either  ignorantly  or  maliciously,  are 
enemies  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  Know-Nothing  party,  and 
others,  showed  us  that  there  are  some  who  would  deprive  the 


church  of  its  liberties,  if  possible.  England  had  been  Catholic  for 
one  thousand  years.  Her  long  line  of  saints  and  holy  personages 
showed  how  the  church  flourished  in  England.  But  the  hour  of 
trial  came.  Evils  had  growm  up ; the  servants  were  asleep. 
Watch,  therefore  ; be  up  and  doing. 

You  who  may  be  citizens  by  adoption  love  the  country  which 
you  have  chosen,  and  to  which  you  have  sworn  allegiance;  and,  as 
for  us,  ask  the  child  if  he  loves  the  mother  who  gave  him  life,  and 
upon  whose  bosom  he  slept. 

She  is  a grand  country,  extending  from  the  broad  Atlantic 
to  where  the  Pacific  washes  the  golden  shores  of  California.  She 
carries  on  her  bosom  flowers  and  fruits  of  every  clime,  and  hides 
beneath  her  surface  gold,  silver,  and  other  ores;  but  richer  than  her 
agricultural  wealth,  grander  than  her  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  is 
her  splendid  political  constitution  and  government — in  our  humble 
opinion,  the  grandest  the  world  has  ever  seen.  And  these  sacred 
institutions  we  would  guard  and  perpetuate.  You  assemble  in  a 
place  well  fitted  for  such  a congress,  which  calls  to  mind  the  deeds 
of  our  fathers.  When  we  stand  upon  the  ground  the  Cathedral 
occupies,  we  remember  that  it  was  here  the  gallant  French  soldiers 
encamped  on  their  return  from  the  capture  of  Yorktown.  When  wTe 
enter,  the  very  walls  seem  hallowed  by  the  scenes  they  have  wit- 
nessed. Here  an  England,  here  a Kenrick  shone  in  his  wisdom 
and  holiness.  Here  were  assembled  their  great  councils  which  have 
done  so  much  for  the  church  of  America.  Idgilate  et  orate.  You 
follow  the  other  advice  of  our  Lord  by  beginning  your  deliberations 
by  prayer  in  assisting  at  the  mass  just  offered.  Let  me  also  call  to 
3rour  mind  that  on  the  coat-of-arms  of  the  first  American  bishopric 
have  always  been  the  words  Auspice  Maria.  The  Catholics  have 
ever  looked  to  the  Virgin  Mother  of  Christ.  They  gave  this  state 
the  name  of  Mary’s  land,  and  named  the  first  settlement  St.  Mary’s, 
and  this  first  cathedral  has  been  dedicated  to  this  glorious  Queen  of 
heaven  and  earth.  It  was  a privilege  of  Mary  to  protect  and  guard 
the  infant  Jesus,  and  she  has  protected  and  guarded  the  infant 
church  of  this  United  States.  Mary  was  ever  true  to  Jesus.  When 
all  had  abandoned  Him  she  faithfully  remained  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross,  and  may  the  same  Virgin  Mother  watch  over  this  young 
church,  guard  and  protect  its  existence. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Mass  the  delegates  assembled  at  the 
Concordia  Opera  House  and  began  their  sessions,  which  continued 
in  a most  harmonious  manner  for  two  days.  Enthusiasm  was  ram- 
pant, and  whether  it  was  some  striking  point  in  an  address  or  the 
entrance  of  some  well  known  person,  hats  were  waved  and  the 
audience  rose  in  a mighty  mass.  Men  wrere  there  well  known  to  the 
country  or  to  their  different  sections — about  1,500  delegates  from 
the  various  dioceses  in  the  United  States;  men  by  birth  or  descent 
of  many  nationalities,  including  Indians  and  negroes,  all  sitting  in 
perfect  harmony,  and  with  one  common  purpose. 

On  the  stage  were  the  president  of  the  congress,  Ex-Gov.  John 
Lee  Carroll  of  Maryland. 

The  Secretaries:  George  E.  Hamilton,  LL.  D.,  Georgetown 
College,  D.  C.;  Prof.  J.  F.  Edwards,  Notre  Dame  University,  Ind.; 
Dr.  Wm.  S.  MacDonald,  Boston  College,  Boston,  Mass.;  J.  B.  Fisher, 
Immaculate  Conception  College,  New  Orleans,  La. ; Amedee  Reyburn, 
St.  Louis  University,  St.  Louis,  Mo. ; John  M.  Duffy,  Chicago,  111. 


20 


THE  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESS. 


The  Vice-Presidents:  John  S.  Prince,  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  Louis 
Fusz,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  Hon.  Wm.  Walsh,  Hon.  Chas.  B.  Roberts, 
Michael  Jenkins,  Baltimore,  Md. ; Edward  McGannon,  Philemon  B. 
Ewing,  Columbus,  O.;  Eugene  Kell}-,  Frederic  R.  Coudert,  Henry 
L.  Hoguet,  John  D.  Crimmins,  New  York,  N.  Y. ; James  W. 
Bryan,  Covington,  Ky.;  John  A.  McShaue,  Omaha,  Neb.;  Thomas 
Corcoran,  Manchester,  N.  H.;  J.  Smith  Brennan,  Wilmington,  Del.; 
Daniel  Dougherty,  Louisville,  Ky.;  M.  W.  O’Brien,  Detroit,  Mich.; 
James  David  Coleman,  Hon.  Frank  McGloin,  John  T.  Gibbons, 
New  Orleans,  La.;  Wm.  P.  Breen,  Fort  Wavue,  Ind.;  John  B. 
Riley,  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y.;  Patrick  Farrelly,  Newark,  N.  J.;  Dr. 
John  B.  Hanrahan,  Burlington,  Vt.;  Hon.  A.  C.  Campbell,  Wyo- 
ming, W.  T.;  J.  B.  Wise,  Alton,  111.;  Gen.  Geo.  W.  Smith,  Gen.  M. 

R.  Morgan,  Chicago,  111.;  Hon.  M.  J.  Condon,  Hon.  M.  Burns, 
Nashville,  Tenn.;  Chas.  Lautz,  John  McManus,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. ; 
Hon.  John  Lawler,  La  Crosse,  Wis. ; Major  B.  J.  Reid,  Erie,  Pa.; 
Stephen  Farrell}',  Hon.  Daniel  Dougherty,  Chas.  A.  Hardy,  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.;  James  Phelan  A.  F.  Keating,  Pittsburgh  and  Alle- 
gheny; Alfred  H.  Chappell,  Hartford,  Conn.;  Bart  E.  Linehan, 
Dubuque,  la.;  Hon.  John  E.  Kenna,  Wheeling,  W.  Va.;  Jas.  Mc- 
Mahon, Brooklyn,  N.Y. ; Hon.  John  Killian,  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.; 
F.  C.  Brent,  Mobile,  Ala.;  John  Lillis,  Davenport,  la.;  John  A. 
O’Reilly,  Nicholas  E.  Kernan,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.;  Hon.  Chas.  Tracey, 
Albany,  N.  Y.;  James  Flanagan,  Boise  City,  Idaho;  C.  F.  Donnelly, 
Boston,  Mass.;  Alex  J.  McCone,  Sacramento,  Cal.;  Judge  J.  M. 
Gibbons,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah;  J.  Carroll  Payne,  Atlanta,  Ga.; 
Hon.  Michael  Reis,  Belleville,  111.;  Hon.  Francis  Burke,  George 
Korbly,  Vincennes,  Ind.;  Patrick  Poland,  Col.  Donn  Piatt,  Cin- 
cinnati, O.;  Dr.  Albert  Letourneaux,  Concordia,  Kan.;  Hon.  D. 
W.  Carroll,  Little  Rock,  Ark.;  Michael  G.  Munly,  Portland,  Ore.; 
D.  Wall,  Vancouver,  Wash.;  Wm.  L.  McLaughlin,  Sioux  Falls, 
Dak.;  Hon.  F.  W.  Gunster,  Hon.  John  F.  Connolly,  Hon.  John  Jy 
Barreit,  Scranton,  Pa.;  T.  J.  McDonnell,  Cleveland,  O. ; J.  Z.  H. 
Scott,  Dr.  C.  H.  Wilkinson,  Galveston,  Tex.;  Chas.  J.  McCarthy, 
Portland,  Me.;  Geo.  W.  Young,  Natchez,  Miss.;  Wm.  A.  Daffron, 
Richmond,  Va.;  Jos.  D.  Banigan,  Providence,  R.  I.;  John  O’ Flan- 
agan, Leavenworth,  Kan. 

The  Committee  on  Organization:  Hon.  William  J.Onahau,  LL.D., 
Chairman,  Chicago,  111.;  Hon.  Henry  J.  Spaunhorst,  St.  Louis,  Mo.; 
Daniel  A.  Rudd,  Cincinnati,  O.;  John  D.  Keiley,  Jr.,  Brooklyn,  N. 
J.;  John  Gilmary  Shea,  LL-  D.,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. 

The  Committee  on  Papers:  Henry  F.  Brownson,  LL-  D.,  Chair- 
man, Detroit,  Mich.;  Peter  L.  Foy,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  M.  J.  Harson, 
Providence,  R.  I. 

Advisory  Committee:  Most  Rev.  John  Ireland,  Archbishop  of 
St.  Paul,  Chairman;  Rt.  Rev.  John  S.  Foley,  Bishop  of  Detroit; 
Rt.  Rev.  Richard  Gilmour,  Bishop  of  Cleveland;  Rt.  Rev.  S.  V. 
Ryan,  Bishop  of  Buffalo;  Rt.  Rev.  C.  P.  Maes,  Bishop  of  Coving- 
ton; Rt.  Rev.  Matth.  Harkins,  Bishop  of  Providence. 

Committee  on  Finance  and  Printing:  M.  W.  O’Brien,  Chairman, 
Detroit,  Mich.;  John  Byrne,  Jr.,  New  York;  Charles  A.  Mair,  Chi- 
cago; C.  C.  Schriver,  Baltimore;  F.  A.  Drew,  St.  Louis. 

Besides  these  were  at  different  times,  Rev.  E.  A.  Higgins,  pres- 
ident St.  Ignatius  College,  Chicago,  111.;  Rev.  J.  Havens  Richards, 

S.  J.,  president  of  the  Georgetown  (D.  C.)  University;  Rev.  P.  Cor- 
rigan, Hoboken,  N.  J.;  Rev.  Dr.  S.  J.  Smith,  S.  J.,  president  of 
Loyola  College,  Baltimore;  Hon.  M.  J.  Power,  speaker  of  the  Nova 
vScotia  Legislative  Assembly;  Rev.  Thaddeus  Hogan,  Trenton, 
N.  J.;  Rev.  Charles  J.  Giese,  Millville,  N.  J.;  Rev.  M.  J.  Fitz- 
gerald, Catholic  University,  Washington,  D.  C.;  Archbishop 
Williams,  of  Boston;  Hon.  Wm.  J.  O'Brien,  of  Baltimore;  Hon. 
Honore  Mercier,  of  Quebec;  Mgr.  Joos,  Vicar- General,  Mon- 
roe, Mich.;  Bishop  Rademacher,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.;  Bishop 
Wigger,  of  Newark;  Charles  McCarthy,  Jr.,  of  Portland,  Me.; 
Mgr.  J.  De  Concilio,  of  Jersey  City;  Rev.  B.  J.  Keiley,  Vicar- 
General  of  the  diocese  of  Savannah,  Ga.;  Bishop  Brondel,  of  Hel- 


ena; Rev.  M.  J.  Brophy,  of  New  York;  Bishop  James  McGolrick; 
of  Duluth;  Very  Rev.  O.  P.  Ludden,  of  Little  Falls,  N.  Y. ; Rev. 
James  Ludden,  of  Albany,  N.  Y. ; Mgr.  Windthorst,  of  Chillicothe, 
O.;  James  O’Reilly,  of  York,  Pa.;  Bishop  James  Ryan,  of  Alton; 
Mgr.  Louis  G.  Deppen,  of  Louisville,  Ky.;  Bishop  Denis  M.  Brad- 
ley, of  Manchester,  N.  H.;  Rev.  S.  B.  Smith,  of  Paterson,  N.  J.;  V. 
Rev.  Edward  Sorin,  of  Notre  Dame,  Ind.,  General  of  the  Congregation 
of  the  Holy  Cross;  Bishop  Thomas  McGovern,  of  Harrisburg;  Rev. 
Dr.  C.  A.  Oliver,  Scranton,  Miss.;  Bishop  E.  P.  Wadhams,  of  Og- 
densburg, N.  Y. ; Bishop  John  Moore,  of  St.  Augustine,  Fla.;  Rev. 
R.  Brady,  S.  J.;  Rev.  Francis  M.  Hencaid,  Minister  Provincial  of 
the  Franciscans,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. ; Bishop  K.  C.  Flasch,  of  LaCrosse; 
ex-Mayor  Grace,  of  New  York;  Rev.  Austin  Heyburn,  San  Luis 
Potosi,  Mexico;  Bishop  Curtis,  of  Wilmington;  Archbishop  Elder, 
of  Cincinnati;  Bishop  John  Loughlin,  of  Brooklyn;  Bishop  McIn- 
tyre, of  Prince  Edward’s  Island;  Bishop  Zardetti,  of  St.  Cloud; 
Rev.  J.  Nugent,  of  Liverpool;  Archbishop  M.  A.  Corrigan,  of  New 
York;  Archbishop  P.  J.  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  and  many  other 
men  distinguished  in  the  church  or  state. 

FIRST  DAY. 

The  proceedings  of  the  American  Catholic  Congress  were  for- 
mally opened  at  1 1 o’clock  by  the  Hon.  William  J.  Onahan,  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Preliminary  Organization,  who  called  the 
congress  to  order,  and  then  invited  the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop 
Ireland  to  invoke  the  divine  blessing  on  the  congress  and  its  delib- 
erations. 

After  a prayer  by  the  archbishop,  Mr.  Onahan  announced  the 
receipt  of  a cablegram  from  the  Holy  Father,  the  illustrious  Pope 
Leo  XIII,  in  response  to  a message  sent  to  His  Holiness,  in  the 
name  of  the  congress.  The  announcement  was  received  with 
cheers,  which  were  repeated  again  and  again  on  the  reading  of  the 
cablegram,  which  was  in  the  following  terms: 

‘ His  Eminence,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Baltimore.  Having  made 
known  to  the  Holy  Father,  the  expression  of  devotion  conveyed 
to  him  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  Congress  to  be  held  in  Baltimore, 
his  Holiness  graciously  bids  me  say  that  he  most  affectionately  im- 
parts his  blessing  to  all  the  members.  M.  Card.  Rampolla.”  (Ap- 
plause.) 

When  the  applause  was  over,  Mr.  Onahan  welcomed,  in  the 
name  of  the  congress  the  distinguished  ecclesiastics  and  laymen 
who  were  in  attendance  as  guests  of  the  congress,  expressing  the 
hope  that  an  international  congress  of  the  Catholic  laity  would  be 
convened  in  the  United  States  in  the  near  future,  in  which  all  pres- 
ent might  have  the  happiness  to  participate. 

Mr.  Onahan  then,  in  a brief  address,  nominated  Hon.  John 
Lee  Carroll,  of  Maryland,  as  the  temporary  president  of  the  con- 
gress. The  address  and  nomination  received  great  applause.  On 
being  introduced  to  the  congress,  Governor  Carroll  said: 

the  chairman’s  address. 

Your  Eminence , Most  Reverend  Prelates , and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Catholic  Laity:  The  meeting  in  this  city  of  the  first  congress  of 
Catholic  laymen  which  has  ever  assembled  in  the  United  States, 
cannot  fail  to  be  an  event  of  the  sincerest  interest  to  all  who  have 
the  welfare  of  the  Catholic  Church  at  heart.  It  was  here  that 
practically  in  the  United  States,  the  church  was  founded.  It  was 
here  that  the  organization  took  place  through  which  Archbishop 
Carroll  was  invested  with  the  purple.  It  was  here  that  the  basis 
was  laid  of  that  prosperity  which  to-day  is  the  greatest  source  of 
our  pride,  and  which  promises  to  go  hand  in  hand  with  the  increas- 
ing wealth  and  abundance  which  is  showered  upon  every  portion 
of  our  land. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  eminently  proper  that  we,  the 
laymen  of  the  church,  should  meet  upon  this  hallowed  ground,  and 
renew  our  allegiance  to  the  doctrines  we  profess ; that  we  should 
show  to  our  fellow-countrymen  the  true  relations  that  exist  between 
the  church  that  we  obey  and  love,  and  the  government  of  our 
choice  ; that  we  should  proclaim  that  unity  of  sentiment  upon  all 
subjects  presented  to  us,  wliich  has  ever  been  the  source  of  Catholic 


1.  Wm.  J.  Onahan,  Chairman, 

2.  H.  J.  Spaunhorst,  ( Committee  on  Organization. 

3.  John  G.  Shea,  ( 

5.  D.  A.  Rudd,  J 


4.  M.  W.  O’Brien,  Chairman  Committee  on  Finance  and  Printing. 

7.  H.  F.  Beownson,  Chairman,  \ 

6.  P.  L.  Foy,  > Committee  on  Papers. 

8.  M.  J.  Harson  ' 


22 


THE  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESS. 


strength,  and  that,  in  a spirit  of  perfect  charity  toward  every  de- 
nomination, we  should  freely  exchange  our  views  in  relation  to  all 
matters  which  affect  us  as  members  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

It  may  be  that  the  question  will  be  asked  : By  what  authority 
is  this  congress  held,  and  under  what  law  does  it  assemble  ? In 
reply  to  this  we  would  suggest,  by  the  sanction  of  His  Eminence, 
the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  the  distinguished  prel- 
ates who  now  surround  us,  and  by  virtue  of  the  authority  of  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States. 

When  the  first  amendment  to  the  constitution  declared  “That 
congress  shall  pass  no  law  respecting  the  establishment  of  a relig- 
ion, nor  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof,’’  the  keynote  of  our 
future  prosperity  was  sounded,  and  to-day  religious  liberty  would 
be  defended  by  all  denominations  as  zealously  as  they  would 
trample  upon  any  attempt  to  abridge  the  personal  freedom  of  the 
citizen.  In  fact,  we  have  only  to  look  back  to  the  history  of  the 
early  colonists  of  Maryland  to  find  that  when  persecution  for  relig- 
ious opinion  was  sanctioned  by  the  laws  of  the  mother  country, 
when  Puritan  and  Episcopalian  were  arrayed  against  each  other, 
the  Catholic  colony  of  Maryland  proclaimed  that,  hereafter,  upon 
her  soil,  religion  was  ever  to  be  as  free  as  the  air  we  breathe,  and 
that  loyalty  to  our  country’s  government  could  be  confined  to  no 
sect  or  class  of  our  citizens. 

Armed,  then,  with  this  authority,  and  proud  of  our  record  upon 
everjT  subject  which  can  affect  the  freedom  of  the  American  people, 
we  have  gathered  here  in  a spirit  of  social  unity,  to  listen  to  the 
words  of  those  who  will  disclose  to  us  the  wants  of  the  Catholic  lay- 
man, and  who  will  make  suggestions  to  meet  the  future  growth  and 
the  temporal  necessities  of  the  church. 

How  truly  may  we  say  that  the  American  Catholic  has  been 
associated  with  even-  period  of  success  or  suffering  through  which 
our  fathers  passed ! From  the  early  days  of  the  revolution,  when 
Archbishop  Carroll  was  sent  to  Canada  to  seek  the  sympathy  or  to 
enlist  the  active  support  of  our  northern  neighbors,  along  through 
the  years  when  Chief  Justice  Taney  graced  the  ermine,  or  Sheridan 
bore  his  country’s  flag,  the  American  Catholic  has  ever  been  fore- 
most among  those  whose  memory  will  be  recalled  for  daring  in  the 
field  or  for  wisdom  in  the  council. 

It  is  not,  however,  the  individual  Catholic  alone  who  has  always 
emphasized  Ins  devotion  to  his  country,  and  to  the  institutions  under 
which  we  live.  The  church  as  a power  has  never  failed  to  throw 
her  influence  in  the  scale  of  law  and  order,  when  called  upon  to 
ward  off  the  dangers  which  convulsion  brings  upon  the  state.  The 
disturbing  element  of  socialism  would  perhaps  to-day  have  held  a 
stronger  footing  upon  the  continents  of  Europe  and  America,  had  it 
not  been  checked  in  the  outset  by  the  powerful  and  unswerving  con- 
demnation of  the  Holy  See. 

The  wild  theory  that  “ property  is  robbery.’’  and  that  the  regu- 
lations of  law  and  order  must  be  overturned,  was  met  by  Leo  XIII 
with  a calm  and  solemn  protest,  which  came  like  a voice  from 
heaven  to  still  the  passions  of  mankind.  Little  did  it  matter  to  His 
Holiness  that  his  own  traditional  possessions  had  been  rudely  as- 
sailed and  wrested  from  him  ; a high  duty  had  to  be  performed  by 
the  spiritual  head  of  the  church,  and  the  lovers  of  good  government, 
and  of  law  and  order  everywhere,  received  the  benefit  of  his  wise 
inspirations  and  the  blessings  of  his  peaceful  command. 

And  yet,  while  the  church  has  always  thus  maintained  respect 
for  established  order,  and  has  fearlessly  upheld  the  rights  of  the  sov- 
ereign power,  she  has  ever  been  prepared  to  lavish  upon  the  suffer- 
ing masses  that  tenderness  and  sympathy  which  has  enabled  her  to 
possess  the  affections  and  to  rule  the  conduct  of  the  multitudes. 

When  the  question  arose  in  our  country  whether  the  church 
should  condemn  as  a body  certain  organizations  of  the  laboring 
class,  it  was  our  own  cardinal  archbishop,  whose  masterly  review 
of  the  situation,  poured  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters,  and  satisfied 
the  Holy  See  that  the  American  laborer  was  still  within  the  influ- 
ence of  the  ministers  of  religion.  Listen  to  his  memorable  words  in 
this  connection  : “ Among  all  the  glorious  titles  which  the  church’s 
history  has  deserved  for  her,  there  is  not  one  which  at  present  gives 
her  such  great  influence  as  that  of  the  ‘ friend  of  the  people.  ’ As- 
suredly in  our  democratic  country  it  is  this  title  which  wins  for  the 
Catholic  Church  not  only  the  enthusiastic  devotedness  of  millions  of 
her  children,  but  also  the  respect  and  admiration  of  all  our  citizens, 
whatever  be  their  religious  belief.  It  is  the  power  of  this  title  which 
renders  persecution  almost  an  impossibility,  and  which  draws 
toward  our  Holy  Church  the  great  heart  of  the  American  people.  ’ ’ 

Thus  we  see  that  this  vast  organization,  of  which  we  are  proud 
to  enroll  ourselves  as  members,  is  at  once  conspicuous  for  three  great 
qualities,  which  appeal  distinctly  to  the  American  public : 


1.  That  its  followers  have  ever  been  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  spirit  and  principles  of  our  revolution. 

2.  That  the  power  of  the  church  can  always  be  relied  upon  to 
maintain  conservative  authority,  and  to  condemn  the  theory  and 
practice  of  those  who  would  destroy  the  landmarks  of  society. 

3.  That  she  always  stands  with  outstretched  arms  to  aid  the 
suffering  masses,  and  is  known  throughout  the  Christian  world  by 
the  glorious  title  of  the  “friend  of  the  people.’’ 

Who,  then,  can  wonder  at  her  astounding  progress  in  this  land 
of  freedom  ? Who  can  wonder  at  the  wide  and  far-reaching  influ- 
ence of  her  priests  and  bishops,  when  they  unite  with  their  sacred 
character  the  best  and  highest  qualities  of  the  citizen  ? 

Who  can  estimate  the  strength  and  value  to  a nation  of  the 
united  action  of  a body  of  men  who  are  guided  by  the  influences  of 
charity  and  religion  ? 

It  is  not  a part  of  my  duty  in  the  position  with  which  you  have 
honored  me,  to  lay  before  you  further  the  plans  and  purposes  of  this 
assemblage.  This  will  be  better  done  by  those  more  familiar  with 
the  subject.  I may,  however,  well  remind  you,  that  with  the  vast 
interests  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  every  portion  of  our  land,  with 
millions  of  our  countrymen  professing  her  faith,  the  time  has  come 
when  her  laymen  will  rejoice  at  the  opportunity  of  meeting  each 
other  upon  common  ground,  and  of  exchanging  views  upon  subjects 
of  vital  importance  to  us  all.  Let  us  hope  that  this  congress,  so 
auspiciously  begun,  in  this  illustrious  presence,  will  be  but  the  fore- 
runner of  others  yet  to  come  ; that  the  Catholic  will  look  to  its  meet- 
ing with  pride  and  satisfaction  ; will  feel  convinced  that  we  have  but 
two  great  purposes  at  heart,  the  glory  and  progress  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  American  people. 
(Applause.) 

Mr.  Onahan  then  read  two  letters  addressed  to  the  congress 
from  across  the  Atlantic.  The  first,  from  Count  Albert  de  Mun,  is  as 
follows: 

Chamber  of  Deputies,  Paris,  October  3,  1889. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Onahan: — You  will  excuse  my  writing  to  you  in 
French;  I feared  if  I did  so  in  English  it  would  be  very  incorrect. 

I have  received,  with  a great  feeling  of  gratitude,  the  invitation 
that  you  addressed  to  me  through  the  Committee  on  Organization  of 
the  Catholic  congress  of  Baltimore,  the  terms  of  which  have  greatly 
touched  me.  I would  have  been  happy  to  respond  to  them  and  to 
carry  before  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  an  expression  of  the 
sentiments  of  affectionate  fraternity  with  which  my  friends  and 
myself  are  penetrated  for  them,  and  to  take  example  by  their  zeal, 
their  organization,  and  their  independence. 

I admire  most  sincerely  the  magnificent  development  of  the 
Catholic  movement  in  America.  I have  watched  with  much  inter- 
est the  social  action  exercised  in  favor  of  the  people  by  the  bishops 
of  your  country.  I have  treasured  also  a deep  recollection  of  my 
meeting  with  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons  and  their  lordships 
the  bishops  of  St.  Paul  and  of  Richmond  since  their  last  journey 
through  France,  for  I was  drawn  to  them  by  an  ardent  sympathy 
with  their  works  and  their  labors. 

The  present  state  of  my  health  and  the  numerous  occupations 
that  are  imposed  upon  me  do  not  permit  me,  unhappily,  to  under- 
take, at  so  brief  notice,  the  voyage  to  America.  I regret  it  very 
deeply,  and  I pray  you  to  be  before  the  members  of  the  congress,  the 
interpreter  of  my  thanks  for  their  invitation  and  of  the  wish  that  I 
cherish  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  the  development  and  the 
grandeur  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  America  and  for  the  prosperity 
and  the  happiness  of  its  children. 

Dear  Mr.  Onahan,  believe  me, 

Your  very  cordially  devoted, 

A.  de  Mun. 

The  second,  from  Count  Waldbott,  of  Bassenheim,  Belgium,  is 
as  follows: 

Dear  Sir:  It  would  have  afforded  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to 
assist  at  your  congress  had  not  particular  reasons  rendered  it  im- 
possible for  me  to  do  so. 

For  a long  time  I have  been  wishing  to  visit  your  great  coun- 
try and  to  study  at  its  source  the  organization  and  working  of  the 
institutions  which  have  given  such  a wonderful  impetus  to  your 
republic.  I would  have  particularly  enjoyed  celebrating  with  you 
the  centenary  of  the  establishment  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  in 
the  United  States,  rejoicing  with  you  at  the  growing  power  of  the 
church  under  the  beneficent  action  of  liberty;  shaking  hands  with 
those  vaiiant  champions  of  our  holy  cause,  and  instructing  myself 
by  listening  to  the  words  of  your  orators  and  venerable  bishops, 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS . 


2 3 


especially  to  your  great  cardinal  of  Baltimore,  that  light  of  the  uni- 
versal church. 

Had  I been  able  to  accept  your  invitation  it  would  have  been 
to  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  have  shown  my  Christian  union  with 
you  all,  and  assert  by  my  presence  that  spirit  of  solidarity  and  inter- 
national agreement  which  it  is  necessary  to  display,  in  the  most  ener- 
getic manner  possible,  in  opposition  to  the  very  united  action  of 
the  enemies  of  good. 

Allow  me  to  tell  you  once  more  that  under  those  circumstances 
I am  deeply  distressed  at  the  obstacles  which  prevent  my  being  pres- 
ent in  your  illustrious  assembly,  but  I do  not  at  all  give  up  the  hope 
of  being  happier  another  time  and  to  be  able  in  a f uture  congress  to 
offer  you,  viva  voce , the  expression  of  my  sympathy,  esteem,  and 
admiration  for  the  valiant  Catholics  of  the  new  world. 

I am,  sir,  yours  devotedly  in  our  Lord, 

Frederick,  Count  Waldbott,  of  Bassenheim, 

St.  Andreas,  near  Bruges  (Belgium). 

October  24,  1889. 

The  chairman  appointed  the  following  committee  to  wait  upon 
His  Eminence,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  request  his  attendance 
upon  the  congress:  Charles  F.  Prince,  of  St.  Paul;  Charles  J. 
Bonaparte,  of  Baltimore,  and  Eugene  Kelly,  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Onahan — Mr.  Chairman:  As  it  will  require  some  time 
to  organize  the  committees,  your  Committee  on  Preliminary  Organi- 
zation thought  it  wise  to  invite  a few  eminent  gentlemen  to  occupy 
your  attention  and  address  you,  at  the  outset  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  congress.  The  first  one  that  I will  ask  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  to 
invite  to  address  the  congress,  is  a gentleman  widely  known  to  the 
Catholics  of  America,  and  needs  no  eulogy  or  introduction  from 
me — the  Hon.  Daniel  Dougherty,  of  New  York.  (Applause.) 

The  appearance  of  the  silver-tongued  orator  upon  the  platform 
was  the  signal  for  a warm  burst  of  applause,  which  was  again  and 
again  renewed.  When  quiet  was  restored  Mr.  Dougherty  said: 

MR.  DOUGHERTY’S  ADDRESS. 

I am  profoundly  touched  by  this,  the  honor  of  my  life.  (Ap- 
plause.) This  convention  is  an  event  in  the  history  of  the  republic, 
an  era  in  American  progress,  an  advance  in  humanity — a move  of 
earth  toward  heaven.  (Applause.) 

Coming  into  your  presence,  theme  after  theme  goes  flashing 
through  my  brain  and  swelling  in  my  bosom.  A single  exultant 
thought  I will  give  utterance  to,  and  then  resume  my  seat. 

We  Catholics,  Roman  Catholics,  American  Roman  Catholics, 
(applause),  proud,  high-spirited,  and  sensitive  as  any  of  our  country- 
men, have  silently  submitted  to  wrongs  and  injustices  and  outrages 
in  manifold  shapes  from  time  immemorial.  Away  back  in  the 
colonial  days  Catholics  suffered  the  direst  cruelties.  Talk  of  the 
slaves  of  the  South  in  ante-war  times — why,  they  were  treated  like 
high-bred  guests  when  compared  with  Catholics  in  colonial  days.  It  is 
the  ‘ ‘ damned  spot  ’ ’ that  will  ‘ ‘ not  out.  ’ ’ The  only  religious  martyrs 
who  ever  stained  our  fair  land  wich  life  blood  were  Roman  Catholics. 
Spurned  with  suspicion,  disfranchised,  persecuted  for  opinion’s  sake, 
hunted  as  criminals,  and  punished  with  death  by  infamous  laws.  We 
have  from  time  to  time  been  slandered,  vilified,  and  maligned  in  news- 
papers, pamphlets,  and  books,  in  speech  and  sermon,  in  sectarian 
assembly,  in  political  convention,  aye,  even  in  the  congress  of  the 
United  States.  We  have  been  proscribed  at  the  ballot  box.  The 
highest  honors  of  the  republic  are  denied  us  by  a prejudice  that  has 
all  the  force  of  a constitutional  enactment.  In  integrity,  intellect, 
and  accomplishments  the  equal  of  our  fellows,  yet  it  is  rare  that 
exalted  distinction  has  been  tendered  to  Roman  Catholics.  The 
exercises  of  our  holy  religion  as  a right  are  denied  in  many  institu- 
tions to  the  sick,  to  the  suffering,  and  to  the  unfortunate,  and  to 
criminals  in  prisons  and  penitentiaries.  Though  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  army  and  navy  are  largely  of  our  creed,  yet  the  number  of  chap- 
lains can  be  counted  upon  the  fingers  of  a single  hand.  It  is  said  that 
Catholic  Indians  have  Protestant  teachers.  Our  churches  have  been 
burned,  our  convents  have  been  pillaged,  our  libraries  have  been 
destroyed.  Political  parties  of  the  past  have  sought  to  deprive  us 
of  our  political  rights,  and  we  have  been  branded  as  tools  of  a foreign 
potentate,  and  unworthy  to  enjoy  the  name  of  Americans. 

At  last  the  hour  has  come,  not  through  our  seeking,  but  in  the 
course  of  events,  when  we,  the  Roman  Catholic  laity  of  the  United 
States,  can  vindicate  ourselves,  can  with  propriety  speak  calmly 
yet  firmly,  charitably  yet  proudly  conscious  of  the  integrity  of  our 
motives  and  the  impregnability  of  our  position.  (Applause.) 


We  assert  that  we  are  pre-eminently  Americans  (applause), 
and  had  it  not  been  for  Catholics  and  the  Catholic  Church, 
there  would  have  been  no  America  (applause);  the  continent 
would  be  unknown.  It  was  to  Catholics  that  that  liberty 
which  is  the  essence  of  all  liberty — freedom  to  worship  God — was 
established  here  by  them,  and  by  them  alone.  It  was  priests,  aye, 
Jesuits,  Dominican  missionaries,  who  first  sought  and  explored 
our  land,  penetrated  into  the  wilderness,  tracked  the  streams  and 
gave  sainted  names  to  localities,  bays,  lakes,  and  rivers.  It  was  the 
holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  that  was  the  first  offering  to  the  true  God 
upon  this  continent.  It  was  Catholic  nations  that  came  first  to  the 
rescue  of  the  revolutionary  fathers  in  the  war  against  the  greatest 
of  Protestant  powers.  (Applause.)  A signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  a Catholic.  The  name  of  the  first  archbishop  of 
Baltimore  is  linked  with  Benjamin  Franklin.  The  Catholic  Church 
has  given  to  the  republic  heroes  in  every  war,  and  in  every-  battle 
on  field  or  flood  Catholics  have  sealed  their  fidelity  with  their  lives. 

We  are  here  to. day,  the  Roman  Catholic  laity  of  the  United 
States,  to  proclaim  to  all  the  world  that  our  country  is  tied  to  every7 
fibre  of  our  hearts,  and  no  human  power  can  shake  our  fidelity. 
(Applause). 

Truly-,  the  blood  of  the  martyr  is  the  seed  of  the  church.  Mar- 
velous as  has  been  the  growth  of  population,  Catholics  have  out- 
stripped all.  From  forty  thousand  we  have  become  ten  millions. 
From  a despised  people,  a mighty  power.  In  every  branch  and 
avenue  of  intellect  and  industry  Catholics  are  the  peers  of  their 
fellowmen.  In  every  village,  steeple  or  tower  tipped  with  the  cross 
tells  where  Catholics  pray7.  In  every-  town  splendid  churches  gather 
each  day  thousands  of  worshippers.  In  every  metropolis  a cathe- 
dral lifts  its  massive  walls  high  above  surrounding  piles,  or  with  its 
stately  dome  crowns  the  city’s  brow.  Why,  our  grand  old  church  is 
a protector  of  learning.  She  it  was  that  rescued  the  priceless  jewels 
of  classic  lore  from  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  preserved 
them  during  the  convulsions  of  a thousand  years  and  gave  them  to 
the  printer’s  art  to  enrich  the  learning,  elevate  the  style,  and  adorn 
the  literature  of  every  language  to  the  end  of  time.  (Applause. ) 

She  is  the  pioneer  of  civilization.  She  is  the  founder  of  states, 
she  is  the  framer  of  laws.  She  is  the  champion  of  the  people 
against  the  encroachment  of  tyrants.’  She  it  is  that  struck  the 
chains  from  the  white  slaves  of  Europe.  She  it  is  that  is  the  patron 
of  art.  She  it  is  that  is  the  theme  of  the  poet.  She  it  is  that 
guards  the  home,  that  sanctifies  marriage,  that  elevates  woman, 
(applause)  and  places  the  Blessed  Mother  nearest  to  the  Saviour. 
(Applause.)  She  it  is,  while  guarding  the  comforts  of  the  people 
here  below,  who  bends  her  sublime  and  heaven-appointed  mission  to 
the  one  supreme  aspiration  of  fitting  her  children  for  the  regions  of 
eternal  bliss.  (Applause.) 

The  shadow  of  an  imposing  event  begins  to  move.  The  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  hemisphere,  are  about  to  cele- 
brate the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  America. 
We  heartily  rejoice  in  this  resolve.  That  tremendous  event,  that 
with  reverence  I may-  say  the  second  creation,  the  finding  of  a new 
world,  and  the  vast  results  that  have  flowed  to  humanity,  can  be 
traced  directly-  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  alone.  Protestantism  was  unknown  when  America 
was  discovered.  Let  the  students  and  the  scholars  search  the  ar- 
chives of  Spain,  and  the  libraries  of  Europe,  and  the  deeper  the 
research  the  more  glory  will  adorn  the  brow  of  Catholicity-.  It  was 
a pious  Catholic  who  conceived  the  mighty  thought.  It  was  when 
footsore  and  down-hearted  at  the  porch  cf  a monastery  that  hope 
dawned  on  him.  It  was  a monk  who  first  encouraged  him.  It  was 
a cardinal  who  interceded  with  the  sovereigns  of  Spain.  It  was  a 
Catholic  king  who  fitted  out  the  ships.  It  was  a Catholic  queen 
who  offered  her  jewels  as  a pledge.  It  was  the  Catholic  Columbus 
and  a Catholic  crew  (applause)  that  sailed  out  upon  an  unknown 
sea  where  ship  had  never  sailed  before.  It  was  to  spread  the  Cath- 
olic faith  that  the  sublime  risk  was  run.  It  was  the  prayer  to  the 
Blessed  Mother  that  each  night  closed  the  perils  of  the  day-  and 
inspired  the  hope  of  the  morrow.  It  was  the  Holy  Cross,  the 
emblem  of  Catholicity,  that  was  carried  to  the  shore  and  planted  on 
the  new-found  world.  (Applause.)  It  was  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass  that  was  the  first,  and  for  a hundred  years,  the  only  Christian 
offering  upon  this  virgin  land.  (Applause.) 

Why,  the  broad  seal  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  stamped  forever 
upon  every  corner  of  the  continent.  Let  us,  therefore,  in  mind  and 
heart  and  soul  rejoice  at  the  triumphs  of  our  country-  and  glory  in 
our  creed.  The  one  insures  to  us  constitutional  freedom  on  earth  ; 
the  other,  if  faithful  to  its  teachings,  insures  an  eternity  in  heaven. 
(Applause  long  and  continued,  amid  which  the  speaker  retired.) 


24 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


The  thanks  of  the  convention  were  then  tendered  to  Mr. 
Dougherty  for  his  remarks. 

The  chairman  next  introduced  the  Rev.  James  Nugent,  of  Liv- 
erpool, who  spoke  as  follows: 

FATHER  NUGENT’S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  my  Lords  and  Gentlemen:  I feel  this  a singular 
privilege  to  be  called  before  you,  more  especially  to  have  to  stand  here 
afterthesoul-inspiring  words  of  the  Catholic  and  the  orator  of  America. 
(Applause.)  The  ringing  words  which  have  come  from  that  Catholic 
heart  I feel  have  electrified  this  meeting,  and  you  want  no  words 
from  a stranger  to  further  occupy  your  time,  but  this  I will  say, 
that  we  who  have  come  from  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  will  carry 
back  with  us  a lesson,  and  I trust  it  will  inspire  us  to  catch  up  your 
spirit,  and  make  11s  not  afraid  to  stand  up  boldly  for  our  rights, 
remembering  that  we  have  a nation  behind  us — a great  Catholic  nation 
that  is  in  sympathy  with  us  and  which  is  one  with  us  not  only  in 
creed,  but  I may  say  in  blood.  When  the  message  will  be  conveyed 
to  our  cardinal  archbishop  no  one,  I know,  wall  be  more  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  action  that  is  here  taking  place  than  he  whose  whole 
life  is  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  church  and  the  masses  of  the 
people.  Forgive  me  if  I now  let  out  a secret.  The  idea  of  a Catholic 
congress  first  sprang  from  those  two  great  hearts  coming  together, 
the  cardinal  archbishop  of  Westminster  and  the  noble  outspoken 
archbishop  of  St.  Paul.  (Applause.)  It  was  intended  that  an  inter- 
national congress  should  be  held  in  London;  unfortunately,  we  are 
not  made  of  the  same  bold  metal  that  you  are,  and  we  have  failed; 
but  I trust  the  key  note  that  Mr.  Onahan  has  uttered  as  regards  an 
international  convention  in  the  future  will  bring  not  only  representa- 
tive men  from  ever}''  country  both  here  and  across  the  Atlantic,  but 
also  will  bind  vis  closer  and  closer  together  in  these  great  social 
questions  that  affect  the  best  interests  of  all  our  people.  (Applause.) 

A unanimous  vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  to  the  Rev.  James 
Nugent  for  his  words  of  encouragement. 

The  chairman  introduced  the  Hon.  Honore  Mercier,  premier  of 
Quebec,  who  said: 

Mr.  Chairman , Most  Rev.  Gentlemen , and  Gentlemen  : I feel  a 
little  embarrassed  to  speak  in  English.  I am  not,  I am  afraid, 
master  enough  of  your  beautiful  language  to  express  my  views  as  I 
wish  to  express  them,  and  having  received  the  honor  of  an  invita- 
tion— a personal  invitation  — from  the  Most  Reverend  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  I thought  it  my  duty  to  put  a few  words  in  writing,  in 
order  to  be  surer  of  the  expressions  that  I might  use,  so  if  you  have 
no  objections,  I will  delay  until  this  afternoon  the  reading  of  the 
paper  I have  prepared.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Onahan  announced  to  the  members  of  the  congress,  that 
they  will  be  expected  and  are  invited  to  attend  a reception  that  His 
Eminence  gives  this  evening  to  the  distinguished  prelates,  and  also  in 
honor  and  as  a compliment  to  the  congress  assembled  to-day.  The 
title  for  admission  at  the  door  will  be  the  delegate’s  badges  or  dele- 
gate’s tickets.  The  reception  will  be  in  this  hall. 

The  chairman  then  introduced  the  Hon.  Francis  Kernan,  of 
New  York,  who  spoke  as  follows  : 

HR.  KERNAN’S  SPEECH. 

Mr.  Chairman , Most  Reverend  Prelates  and  Fathers , and  you , 
my  Fellow  Catholics  of  the  United  States  of  America:  I am  highly 
gratified  now,  at  the  end  of  the  first  century  of  the  organization  of 
our  church  in  the  states,  to  meet  so  large,  so  intelligent  a represent- 
ative body  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of  the  United  States.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  meet  for  no  secret  purpose,  or  no  mere  political 
purposes,  but  we  meet  to  associate  ourselves  together  for  the  pur- 
pose of  doing  great  good  to  us,  the  laymen  of  the  United  States,  and 
also  to  the  government  of  the  United  States.  (Applause.)  We  de- 
sire, by  meeting  occasionally  and  consulting  with  one  another,  from 
all  parts  of  the  Union,  to  benefit  ourselves  by  doing  all  that  we  can, 
by  associate  and  open  action,  to  make  the  laymen  of  the  United 
States  more  thoroughly  Catholic  in  the  practice  of  their  religion 
everywhere.  If  they  practise  their  religion,  they  will  give  the  ex- 
ample to  our  dissenting  friends;  and  I venture  to  assert  that  the 
American  people  will  more  truly  judge  the  tree  by  the  fruit,  and 
that  if  the  laity  perform  their  duty,  by  living  up  to  the  teachings  of 
their  church,  they  will  discover  how  much  they  have  been  abused 
by  the  inculcation  of  prejudice  against  them.  (Applause.)  By  doing 
this  we  will  also  make  our  people  more  loyal,  if  they  can  be,  than 
they  are  now,  to  the  preservation  of  the  glorious  political  institutions 


under  which  we  live.  In  the  land  I know  there  are  other  views 
among  some  of  our  dissenting  brethren,  but  I say  to  them  in  private, 
and  I say  it  here  in  public,  that  the  man  who  is  loyal  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Catholic  Church  must  always  be  loyal  to  his  country. 
(Applause.)  He  will  be  an  honest  voter;  he  will  be  an  honest  offi- 
cer, if  he  lives  up  to  the  teachings  of  his  church.  (Applause.) 

Now,  my  friends,  I did  not  suppose  I was  to  address  you  just 
now.  I have  had  no  consultation  with  the  gentlemen  who  have 
done  such  good  work  in  getting  us  together,  but  I venture  to  say 
that  our  mission  will  be  to  make  Catholics  better  Christians,  and 
therefore  better  citizens.  (Applause.) 

At  this  point  Cardinal  Gibbons  and  Cardinal  Taschereau  entered 
the  hall,  and  were  escorted  to  the  platform. 

The  chairman  said:  Gentlemen,  I have  the  honor  of  now  intro- 
ducing to  you  His  Eminence,  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Quebec, 
Cardinal  Taschereau  (great  applause),  and  I have  great  pleasure  in 
introducing  to  you,  gentlemen,  His  Eminence,  the  Cardinal  Arch- 
bishop of  Baltimore,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  who  will  address  you. 
(Great  applause.) 

THE  ADDRESS  OF  CARDINAL  GIBBONS. 

Gentlemen:  In  the  midst  of  such  an  array  of  eloquence,  I am 
sorry  to  interrupt  the  proceedings  even  for  a single  moment,  but  in 
my  own  name  and  in  the  name  of  the  Catholic  clergy  and  laity  of 
the  archdiocese  of  Baltimore — and  I may  venture  to  add  also,  in  the 
name  of  the  entire  community,  without  regard  to  faith  or  creed,  I 
tender  to  you  all  a most  cordial  welcome  to  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
(Applause.) 

When  the  question  of  holding  a congress  at  this  particular  time 
was  first  broached  to  me,  I did  not  favor  the  project,  because  I 
feared  there  would  not  be  sufficient  time  to  dispose  of  the  subjects 
that  would  be  presented  to  your  consideration.  I foresaw  that  the 
proceedings  of  the  congress  would  be  dovetailed  or  sandwiched,  so 
to  speak,  between  the  great  ceremonial  of  yesterday  and  the  ceremony 
of  the  dedication  of  the  Catholic  University  of  Washington,  and 
when  you  sandwich  a body  between  two  other  bodies,  it  is  much  the 
worse  for  the  body  that  is  sandwiched  (laughter  and  applause),  for 
you  deprive  the  individual  of  his  breath,  and,  above  all,  you  take 
away  from  him  the  power  of  speech.  But  I was  compelled  to  yield 
to  the  solicitations  and  representations  made  to  me  by  some  of  my 
honored  friends  in  the  western  part  of  this  country  (laughter),  whose 
opinions  I have  great  respect  for,  and  whom  I personally  love;  and 
you  know  that  the  people  of  the  west  are  not  very  easily  suppressed. 
(Laughter.)  In  fact,  I may  add,  that  they  are  absolutely  irrepressi- 
ble, especially  when  they  are  under  the  leadership  of  such  a great 
champion  of  faith  and  country  as  the  archbishop  of  St.  Paul. 
(Applause.) 

Although  the  time  is  short.  I hope  that  this  congress  will  not  be 
held  in  vain.  It  will  teach  us  many  lessons.  It  will  serve  all  of  us 
as  a school  of  information  and  prepare  us  for  holding  a more  elab- 
orate convention  at  some  future  day.  (Applause.) 

And,  gentlemen,  it  serves  another  good  purpose.  It  empha- 
sizes and  vindicates  the  important  fact  that  the  laity  have  the  right, 
and  have  also  the  duty,  of  co-operating  with  the  clergy  in  every 
good  measure  affecting  the  interests  of  society,  of  the  country,  and  of 
the  church  at  large,  and  for  my  part  I must  say  that  I have  had 
for  a long  time  at  heart  a desire  to  see  the  laity  and  the  clergy  come 
more  closely  together.  (Applause.)  I think  that  in  some  respects 
they  have  been  too  far  and  too  wide  apart,  and  if  the  clergy  are,  as 
they  always  will  be,  the  divinely  constituted  organs  for  preaching 
the  word  of  God  to  the  faithful-  the  organs  of  faith  and  morals — 
then  on  their  part  the  clergy  have  very  much  to  learn  from  the  laity, 
from  the  wisdom  and  discretion,  from  the  experience  and  above  all, 
from  the  worldly  knowledge  of  the  Catholic  laity  of  this  country. 
(Applause.)  And  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  country  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  where  the  clergy  and  laity  should  be  more  united 
and  should  more  correspond  and  co-ope'rate  with  one  another  than  in 
the  United  States.  The  clergy  are  supported  by  the  laity,  our 
churches  are  erected  by  the  laity,  our  schools  are  sustained  by  them, 
and  the  salaries  of  the  clergy  are  handed  to  them,  not  on  a silver 
salver  of  the  government,  but  from  the  warm  hands  and  hearts  of 
the  people  themselves.  (Applause.) 

Gentlemen,  I think  that  on  this  occasion  you  will  take  heart 
when  you  see  the  intelligence  and  the  numbers  that  are  here  as- 
sembled. In  union  there  is  strength,  in  the  physical  order,  and  in 
the  social,  and  in  the  moral.  A drop  of  water  is  powerless  by  itself, 
but  let  those  drops  of  water  be  multiplied  a million-fold  and  they 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS 


25 


become  the  vast  and  mighty  Mississippi,  bearing  upon  its  bosom 
the  treasures  of  the  prairies  of  the  west.  A single  thread  is  very 
weak  indeed  in  itself,  but  let  many  threads  be  joined  together  and 
they  become  a powerful  cable,  capable  of  sustaining  the  strongest 
vessels,  and  in  like  manner,  gentlemen,  by  your  corporate  union, 
by  your  organization,  you  will  become  a tower  of  strength  in  this 
country";  you  will  become  a great  power,  a great  vital  force,  and 
thanks  be  to  God,  you  will  become  a power,  not  unto  destruction, 
but  unto  edification.  (Applause.)  You  will  become  a strong 
power,  not,  like  Samson,  to  pull  down  the  walls  of  our  political  con- 
stitution, but  to  sustain,  and  to  uphold,  and  to  build  them  up. 
(Applause.) 

Gentlemen,  once  more  I bid  you  a most  hearty  welcome,  and  I 
pray  to  Almighty  God,  the  source  of  all  light,  that  your  delibera- 
tions may  be  marked  by  that  liberty  and  independence  which  char- 
acterize free  men;  that  your  deliberations  may  all  be  marked  by 
the  wisdom,  and  discretion,  and  political  knowledge  so  character- 
istic of  the  Catholic  community  in  the  United  States,  and  above  all, 
that  your  discussions  may  be  marked  by  that  wisdom,  that  charity, 
that  forbearance  toward  one  another,  which  becomes  members  of  the 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  and  children  of  the  same  God  and  brothers 
of  the  great  legislator,  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  social  leader  of  man- 
kind, and  children  of  the  same  church,  and  brothers  of  the  same 
family,  “having  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  and  one  God  and 
Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  us  all.” 
(Applause.) 

Mr.  Kernan  then  concluded  his  remarks,  which  were  interrupted 
by  the  arrival  of  His  Eminence,  in  these  words: 

CONCLUSION  OF  MR.  KERNAN’ S SPEECH. 

His  Eminence  need  have  said  no  word  apologizing  for  inter- 
rupting our  proceedings;  wre  are  delighted  to  be  interrupted  by  his 
wisdom  and  zeal,  and  his  care  for  us  all  on  all  occasions.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

My  friends,  I was  saying  to  y-ou  that  this  association,  as  I un- 
derstand its  general  purpose,  was  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  counsel, 
by-  mutual  action,  to  make  us  laymen  better  Catholics,  and  therefore 
better  patriots  and  greater  lovers  of  our  country.  And  why  should 
not  we  Catholics  love  the  political  institutions  of  these  United  States  ? 
There  is  no  country  in  the  world,  Catholic  or  Protestant,  where  our 
church  is  as  free  from  persecution  and  as  free  from  harsh  treatment  as 
in  these  United  States.  (Applause.)  Thank  God;  our  spiritual 
father,  the  Pope,  requires  no  concordat  with  the  government  of  the 
United  States  to  enable  him  to  appoint  bishops  and  cardinals.  That 
he  has  to  do  in  Catholic  countries  too  often.  They  seek  to  use  the 
church  as  a slave  of  the  government,  and  hence  they  interfere  with 
the  appointment  of  bishops  and  with  others  matters  touching  the 
spiritual  authority  of  the  Pope.  But  thank  God,  in  America  he 
appoints  his  bishops  without  any  leave  from  the  government,  and  the 
government  desires  to  offer  no  interference.  (Applause.) 

We  will  be  faithful  to  these  institutions  where  every-  man  has 
the  right  and  is  respected  for  fearlessly  on  all  proper  occasions  avow- 
ing what  he  believes  to  be  his  duty  to  his  God  by  practising  that 
religion  which  he  thinks  is  the  correct  one,  and  which  he  thinks  he 
ought  to  practise. 

We  desire  to  aid  in  building  up  a body  of  manly,  courageous, 
patriotic  Catholic  laymen  who  will  always  try  to  be  in  charitable 
relations  with  those  who  differ  from  them  in  religion,  and  will  always 
be  faithful  to  their  own,  and  always  faithful  to  this  government  which 
gives  them  and  their  children  the  great  God-given  right  of  worship- 
ping God  freely  and  fearlessly  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own 
conscience.  I do  not  desire  to  coerce  any  person  of  a different  creed 
to  worship  God  as  I think  is  right.  I desire  to  encourage  him  to 
examine  for  himself,  and  I respect  him  when  he  has  so  examined, 
for  teaching  his  children  and  worshipping  God  according  to  what  he 
believes  is  right  himself,  and  not  according  to  what  I believe  is 
right.  I ask  to-day  the  same  right  and  privilege  for  ourselves. 
But,  my  friends,  the  hour  for  adjournment  has  come  ; I will  not 
detain  you  longer.  I am  delighted  to  be  here  with  y-ou,  and  I trust 
we  shall  so  act  that  all  of  the  people  in  these  United  States  will  say-, 
“These  men  mean  to  be  true  Christians,  and  they  will  be  better 
patriots  for  it.”  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Onahan — I am  desired  by  the  chariman  of  the  local  com- 
mittee of  arrangements  to  make  two  brief  announcements;  one  is 
that  a lunch  has  been  prepared  for  the  members  of  the  congress,  and 
is  ready  in  the  adjoining  hall.  The  second  announcment  is  that  the 
citizens  of  Baltimore  on  Thursday,  which  is  indicated  as  Baltimore 


Day,  will  entertain  the  delegates  to  this  congress  by  excursions  to 
the  various  Catholic  institutions  of  the  city,  and  other  points  of 
interest,  the  details  of  which  will  be  found  in  the  newspapers. 
Since  time  is  of  the  utmost  importance  with  this  congress,  I suggest, 
and  I do  not  doubt  it  will  meet  with  the  concurrence  of  the  congress 
at  once,  in  the  interest  of  the  economy-  of  time,  that  the  temporary 
organization  of  the  congress  be  made  the  permanent  organization, 
and  that  the  rules  to  govern  the  deliberations  of  this  congress  for  the 
temporary  organization  be  made  the  rules  of  the  permanent  organ- 
ization. (Applause.) 

The  question  was  put  and  the  motion  was  carried  unanimously. 

A recess  of  twenty  minutes  was  then  taken  for  lunch,  while  the 
chairman  was  forming  the  committees. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  recess  the  chairman  called  the  congress 
to  order,  and  presented  the  names  of  the  gentlemen  to  compose  the 
committee  on  resolutions  as  follows:  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  New 
York  ; William  Walsh,  Maryland  ; John  B.  Colahan,  Pennsylvania; 
William  L.  Kelly-,  Minnesota ; Henry  F.  Brownson,  Michigan  ; 
T.  J.  Semmes,  Louisiana  ; C.  A.  Mair,  Illinois  ; John  C.  Donnelly, 
Michigan  ; Bartholomew  E.  Linehan,  Iowa  ; Charles  F.  McKenna, 
Pennsylvania  ; M.  W.  O’Brien,  Michigan. 

The  chair  then  presented  the  names  of  the  committee  to  wait 
upon  the  president  of  the  United  States.  The  committee  was  as 
follows:  Jos.  J.  O’Donoghue,  John  Byrne,  New  York;  Richard 
Storrs  Willis,  Michigan ; H.  J.  Spannhorst,  Missouri ; John  D. 
Keiley,  New  York  ; Dr.  John  Guerin,  Illinois  ; Francis  Kernan,  New 
York  ; B.  T.  Du  Val,  Arkansas  ; Daniel  A.  Rudd,  Ohio  ; Anthony 
Kelley,  Minnesota  ; Alexander  Porter  Morse,  District  of  Columbia  ; 
M.  Glennon,  Virginia ; Jas.  David  Coleman,  Louisiana ; Daniel 
Troy,  Alabama. 

Mr.  Onahan — I move  that  the  chairman  of  this  convention  be 
the  chariman  of  the  committee  to  wait  upon  the  president  of  the 
United  States.  (Applause.)  I take  leave  to  put  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  put  and  it  was  adopted  unanimously. 

The  next  business  taken  up  was  the  reading  of  papers. 

CATHOLIC  CONGRESSES. 

FIRST  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  JOHN  GILMARY  SHEA,  LL.D. , OF 

NEW  YORK. 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Members  of  the  First  American  Catho- 
lic Congress:  For  the  first  time  in  the  history-  of  our  republic  repre- 
sentative lay  Catholics  meet  together  in  a general  body-  in  the  old 
Catholic  metropolis  of  the  country,  endeared  to  us  all  by-  the  religious 
associations  of  a hundred  years.  Of  many  races  and  lands,  we  come 
hither  bound  in  the  unity  of  faith  from  the  broad  prairie  and  culti- 
vated field,  from  counting  house,  office,  and  study-,  from  the  pursuit 
of  art  and  science,  from  the  chair  of  professor  and  editor,  from  the 
workshop  and  mill,  from  the  mines  where  men  wrest  from  nature’s 
storehouse  the  material  for  national  progress.  Diverse  in  origin,  in 
occupation,  in  political  ideas,  as  Catholics  there  is  no  division  line 
to  sever  us;  the  church  is  one  and  unites  us  in  her  unity-,  as  o'Ur 
national  life  is  gradually-  blending  us  all  into  one  vast  Catholic  body 
of  the  English  tongue. 

A Catholic  congress,  a meeting  of  Catholic  gentlemen  represent- 
ing the  laity-  of  the  church  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  assem- 
bling to  consider  the  interests  of  our  people,  as  citizens  of  our  beloved 
country-,  and  also  as  members  of  the  great  brotherhood  of  the  church 
spread  throughout  the  world,  is  something  that  has  been  often 
desired,  often  projected,  but  only  now  for  the  first  time  carried  out. 

There  were  times  when  great  Catholic  interests  were  managed 
in  every-  country-  by  kings  and  courts,  who  often  assumed  a position 
of  hostility  to  the  Holy  See,  which  the  faithful  deplored.  Now  the 
voice  of  the  people  controls,  or  is  supposed  to  control,  the  government 
through  representative  bodies.  Unfortunately,  these  bodies  seldom 
represent  the  religious  element  in  any  state,  and  even  in  countries 
once  deeply  Catholic  they  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  men,  who, 
while  professing  the  greatest  respect  for  liberty  and  for  the  inalien- 
able rights  of  man,  lose  no  opportunity-  to  curtail  and  annihilate,  so 
far  as  they  can,  the  rights  of  Catholic  citizens  in  the  domain  of 
religion  • 


26 


THE  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESS. 


This  has  rendered  it  necessary  for  Catholics,  as  such,  to  meet  in 
congresses,  in  order  to  look  after  Catholic  interests,  give  expression 
to  their  sense  of  wrong,  to  make  a profession  of  their  faith  and  of 
their  adherence  to  the  See  of  Peter,  to  show  that  they  are  not,  as 
their  enemies  suppose,  mere  blind  tools  to  be  led  like  sheep  by  their 
clergy  and  to  be  trampled  on  with  impunity  by  their  opponents. 
Catholics  can  thus  make  it  evident  to  the  world  that,  honoring  in 
the  highest  degree  the  supreme  pontificate,  the  priesthood,  and  the 
episcopate  placed  over  them  by  divine  institution  in  the  church  of 
God,  ready  to  support  them  in  their  labors  for  the  good  of  souls,  act- 
ing in  perfect  harmony  with  them  as  parts  of  one  spiritual  bod}-,  the 
laity  are  none  the  less  alive  to  their  civil  and  political  rights,  and 
determined  to  maintain  them,  are  ready  to  take  part  in  all  movements 
for  progress  in  literature,  art,  science — in  all  that  tends  to  increase 
human  happiness  within  the  lawful  bounds  of  religion  and  morality. 

The  holding  of  such  congresses  in  Europe,  especially  in  Ger- 
many and  Belgium,  has  been  attended  with  the  most  beneficial  results 
in  banishing  apathy,  rousing  a healthy  Catholic  public  spirit,  and 
leading  to  a more  perfect  organization  of  the  faithful  to  secure  their 
rights,  prevent  oppression  and  injustice,  and  carry  out  good  works 
needed  by  the  time  and  place. 

As  Americans  we  can  claim  that  the  idea  and  the  very  name  oi 
congress  originated  with  us.  The  Continental  Congress  stands  out 
in  the  annals  of  history;  at  first  a mere  bod}'  of  delegates  met  to 
present  humble  petitions,  to  expose  their  wrongs  and  ask  redress;  it 
became  by  the  force  of  circumstances  a government,  raising  armies, 
holding  at  bay  the  greatest  kingdom  in  Europe,  winning  recognition 
from  foreign  nations,  and  molding  thirteen  isolated  colonies  into  a 
firm  and  solid  republic  that  for  a century  has  excited  the  wonder  of 
the  world. 

The  Catholic  congresses  held  in  Europe  had  their  general  and 
their  local  characteristics.  In  Germany  Catholics  found  themselves 
suddenly  exposed  to  a bitter  and  terrible  persecution  from  the  new 
empire.  They  had  done  nothing  to  provoke  the  persecution;  the 
Catholic  princes  and  states,  the  Catholics  in  Protestant  realms  had 
borne  their  share  in  the  war,  priests  had  exposed  their  lives  as  chap- 
lains on  every  battle  field,  sisters  had  nursed  the  sick  and  wounded. 
The  decrees  of  the  Vatican  Council  were  made  the  pretext,  and  the 
religious  orders  were  banished,  then  secular  priests  were  torn  from 
their  parishes,  and  bishops  from  their  sees,  till  the  faithful  in  almost 
countless  churches  were  left  without  priest  or  sacrifice.  The  Cath- 
olic body  already  providentially  organized  made  a noble  struggle  to 
force  the  repeal  of  these  Draconian  laws.  Citizens,  deprived  of  their 
rights,  they  sent  to  the  legislative  hall  men  to  demand  redress. 
Apathy  disappeared;  the  people  were  aroused;  all  felt  that  unless 
they  contended  manfully  for  their  rights,  all  was  lost.  Catholic 
Germany  came  forth  with  a unanimity,  courage,  and  ability,  that 
astonished  the  men  who  wished  to  substitute  blood  and  iron  for  con- 
science, and  who  expected  to  find  a community  deprived  of  its  spirit- 
ual guides — a timid,  crouching,  disorganized  body.  The  result 
was  due  mainly  to  the  influence  exerted  throughout  Germany  by  a 
series  of  Catholic  congresses,  the  first  of  which  was  held  at  Mayence 
in  1848,  when  a constitution  was  adopted  that  received  the  approval 
of  the  German  episcopate  and  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pius  IX. 
The  congress  that  met  in  October,  1848,  in  the  old  electoral  palace, 
was  not  exclusively,  nor  even  predominantly,  a lay  body,  but  the 
committees  were  composed  of  laymen,  and  few  of  the  orators  came 
from  the  ranks  of  the  clergy.  Chevalier  Francis  Joseph  von  Buss, 
of  Freiburg,  founder  of  the  Catholic  associations  in  Germany,  pre- 
sided in  the  congress  of  delegates  from  those  bodies.  The  Bayard  of 
the  church  in  Germany,  he  electrified  every  assemblage  he  addressed 
by  his  learning,  his  deep  and  earnest  devotion  to  his  church  and  his 
country.  Catholic  education,  Catholic  art,  Catholic  music,  Catholic 
architecture  and  vestments,  science  and  the  press,  were  subjects 
treated  and  discussed  in  the  earlier  congresses  of  these  associations. 
The  claims  of  Catholic  charity  were  constantly  brought  before  the 
congresses,  and  plans  suggested  for  supplying  the  void  caused 
throughout  Europe  by  the  suppression  and  spoliation  of  the  religious 
orders  which  began  with  Portugal’s  attack  on  the  Jesuits  in  1759, 
and  has  been  continued  in  country  after  country  to  our  day. 

The  later  congresses  in  Germany  had  serious  questions  before 
them,  as  we  have  seen,  when  the  very  existence  of  the  Church  was 
threatened.  This  year  the  Catholic  congress  at  Bochum  spoke  man- 
fully on  the  Roman  question : ‘ ‘ We  claim  the  complete  independence 
of  the  Holy  See,  and  we  shall  not  cease  to  demand  it.  We  reserve 
always,  as  a thing  apart,  the  rights  of  the  Pope.  We  shall  aid  the 
Holy  Father  by  our  prayers,  our  means,  and  our  political  action, 
and  we  have  every  trust  in  the  triumph  of  the  church,  knowing  that 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  her.” 


The  Catholic  congress  at  Munich,  the  spontaneous  manifestation 
of  the  whole  kingdom,  renews  in  the  most  decisive  terms  the  con- 
demnation of  Italian  hostility  to  the  church  and  the  sovereign 
pontiff.  Presided  overby  Dr.  Joerg,  it  declared:  ‘ ‘ The  Catholics 
of  Bavaria  share  the  sorrow  and  indignation  of  all  sons  of  the  Catholic 
Church  at  the  unmeasured  insults  inflicted  upon  the  Holy  Father,  and 
are  convinced  that  a situation  worthy  of  the  Pope,  or  the  exercise  of 
the  supreme  pastoral  office,  is  not  to  be  secured  except  by  the  resto- 
ration of  his  temporal  power.” 

We  can  re-echo  the  words  of  Bochum  and  Munich. 

The  first  Catholic  congress  in  Belgium  was  held  in  Mechlin  in 
1863,  Ducpetiaux  being  the  organizer  and  soul  of  the  assembly. 
Every  part  of  Belgium  was  represented  by  large  numbers  of  dele- 
gates, and  eminent  Catholics  from  other  countries  responded  to  the 
invitation  to  attend  and  address  the  congress.  The  voice  of  Cardinal 
Wiseman,  and  the  voice  of  Bishop  Dupanloup  were  heard  in  the 
Petit  Seminaire  of  Mechlin. 

The  fruit  of  these  congresses  was  soon  seen  in  new  educational 
efforts,  in  the  multiplication  of  Catholic  journals,  in  articles  and 
books  discussing  the  themes  treated  of  in  these  assemblies.  The 
power  of  association  became  more  generally  acknowdedged,  indiffer- 
ent and  timid  Catholics  were  roused  to  earnestness,  courage,  and 
action. 

Germany  held  an  annual  congress,  sometimes  in  one  city,  some- 
times in  another.  Then  Switzerland  followed  the  example  of  Ger- 
many and  Belgium;  and  this  year  Spain  and  Bavaria  join  the  general 
movement,  as  we  now  do. 

How  Catholic  Germany,  led  by  men  formed  in  these  congresses, 
has  by  peaceful  but  earnest  agitation  secured  an  almost  complete 
repeal  of  oppressive  laws  is  well  known. 

Spain  has  been  for  half  a century  rent  by  an  ever  recurring  civil 
war;  but  Catholics  divided  politically  would  not  harmonize,  and,  as 
often  happens,  a faction  hostile  to  religion  contrived  to  control  the 
government,  and  but  too  frequently  use  its  power  against  the  church 
and  the  Catholic  masses.  The  congress  of  1889,  due  mainly  to  the 
bishop  of  Madrid,  was  planned  with  great  caution  to  avoid  all  the 
old  jealousies  and  bring  Spaniards  of  all  types  together  purely  as 
Catholics.  The  congress  was  conducted  in  the  most  harmonious 
manner,  and  the  results  promise  to  be  of  great  and  lasting  service  to 
the  church. 

In  the  United  States  a Catholic  congress  has  long  been  desired. 
More  than  twenty  years  ago  the  Catholic  World  took  the  subject  up 
and  showed  alike  the  beneficial  result  of  such  assemblages  in  Europe, 
and  the  immense  work  which  might  be  accomplished  by  them  in  this 
country.  Though  the  matter  has  been  mooted  from  time  to  time, 
nothing  was  done,  and  Catholic  interests  have  been  left  to  indi- 
vidual, isolated  action,  or  the  partial  action  of  a few  societies.  The 
meeting  of  sympathy  with  Pius  IX  in  1867  was  not  even  wholly 
Catholic;  and  the  first  meeting  to  denounce  the  spoiliation  of  the  propa- 
ganda by  the  Italian  government  was  called  by  a single  society,  the 
Xavier  Union.  We  have  not  now,  and  had  not  at  those  dates,  any 
organization  representing  the  Catholics  of  the  whole  country,  and 
alive,  through  its  committees,  to  all  Catholic  interests.  Yet  all  will 
admit  that  the  formation  of  such  a body  is  as  feasible  as  it  is  neces- 
sary. 

Though  Catholics  belong  to  all  political  parties,  this  constitutes 
no  impediment  to  harmonious  action.  A greater  difficulty  lies  in 
the  fact  that  a large  number  of  Catholics  are  by  birth  German, 
Irish,  Canadian,  Polish,  Portuguese,  Flemish,  and  many  descendants 
of  immigrants  of  those  nations  remain  attached  to  the  language 
and  ideas  of  their  parents,  while  others  are  absorbed  in  the  English- 
speaking  body  descended  from  those  who  settled  in  Maryland  and 
elsewhere  from  1634  to  a period  two  centuries  later.  Besides  these 
we  have  Catholics  of  French  and  Spanish  race,  and  still  of  French 
or  . Spanish  speech  in  parts  acquired  by  treaty,  who  remain  in  a 
manner  isolated.  We  have,  too,  our  colored  and  Indian  Catholics. 

While  the  Catholics  of  other  countries  are  generally  homo- 
geneous, with  the  same  language,  customs,  and  traditions,  we  have 
here  in  the  United  States  men  of  all  races  and  languages,  like  the 
multitude  who  gathered  around  the  apostles  on  the  wonderful  day 
of  Pentecost;  but  by  drawing  close  the  bonds  of  brotherhood  the 
voice  of  the  church,  uttered  in  the  name  of  Peter,  will  come  to  each 
and  all,  as  the  tongue  in  which  they  were  born. 

Unfortunately,  considerations  of  language  and  race  have  done 
much  to  isolate  us  from  each  other  and  to  prevent  harmonious  and 
united  co-operation  while  they  weakened  our  force  in  creating  a 
healthy  public  opinion  in  the  country,  so  far  as  the  church  and  her 
interests  are  concerned.  United  in  the  same  faith,  emulating  each 
other  in  love  and  devotion  to  the  Holy  See,  in  personal  sympathy 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


27 


with  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pope  Leo  XIII,  amid  his  trials  and 
afflictions,  his  imprisonment,  and  the  outrages  heaped  upon  him  by 
the  shameless  usurpers  of  the  Eternal  City,  governed  by  the  same 
bishops,  fortified  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  by  the  same  sacra- 
ments, we  certainly  should  not  let  the  sin  of  Babel  divide  heart 
from  heart  when  the  miracle  of  Pentecost  should  give  us  grace  to 
be  of  one  heart  and  one  mind. 

We  have  Catholic  societies  and  organizations,  but  they  are 
generally  identified  with  race;  few  are  simply  Catholic.  Hence 
these  bodies,  even  when  they  meet  in  conventions  and  show  the 
most  laudable  activity  and  zeal,  do  not  represent  the  laity  of  the 
whole  church  in  the  republic,  but  only  particular  phases  of  it. 

The  German  Catholics  of  the  United  States,  trained  in  their 
own  land  to  appreciate  the  value  of  association,  have  carried  out 
the  idea  more  thoroughly  here,  and  the  conventions  of  their 
societies,  like  that  held  this  year  at  Cleveland,  produce  great  and 
important  results  by  the  number,  unanimity,  zeal,  and  activity  of 
the  439  societies,  which  claim  a membership  of  600,000.  The 
Young  Men’s  Catholic  Union  embraces  an  array  of  eighty-five 
societies,  and  is  the  most  influential  after  the  German  Verein. 
The  Irish  Catholic  Benevolent  Union  draws  together  the  beneficial 
societies  formed  among  those  of  Irish  origin;  the  Total  Abstinence 
societies  co-operate  together,  and  the  Society  of  Saint  Vincent  de 
Paul,  wide-spread  and  efficient,  does  its  work  unobtrusively,  rarely- 
by  general  conventions  making  known  its  labors  or  exciting  atten- 
tion. An  attempt  was  made  to  form  Catholic  unions  throughout 
the  country,  and  by  a central  organization  constitute  a national 
body;  but  the  plan  did  not  fulfill  its  earlier  promise,  and  the  unions 
are  virtually  extinct. 

Thus,  though  conventions  of  Catholic  societies  are  held,  there  has 
been  no  congress  or  body  representing  the  whole  Catholic  communi- 
ty without  distinction  of  nationality,  and  seeking  to  attain  unani- 
mous action  in  all  that  concerns  us  as  a body,  in  relation  to  the  Holy 
See,  to  our  own  federal  and  state  governments,  the  special  works  of 
charity  or  Christian  zeal,  and  the  general  questions  of  education, 
science,  art,  architecture,  music,  literature,  the  diffusion  of  truth, 
and  the  counteracting  of  errors. 

The  present  congress  is  spontaneous  and  tentative.  It  is  an 
attempt  to  bring  about  a necessary  and  long-desired  organization. 

The  general  interests  affecting  all  American  Catholics  are  mainly 
our  relation  to  the  Holy  See  and  to  the  government  of  the  United 
States. 

We  can,  in  the  name  of  our  fellow-citizens,  make  a full  and  dis- 
tinct profession  of  faith  in  all  that  the  church  teaches,  and  our  loy- 
alty to  its  government  by  the  Sovereign  Pontiff.  Churches  in  other 
lands  may  boast  of  having  been  founded  by  some  one  of  the  apostles. 
In  this  country  we  owe  all  directly  to  the  Popes.  Offshoots  of  the 
hierarchies  of  England,  France  and  Spain  were  planted,  and  the 
work  of  the  church  was  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  the 
Supreme  Pontiffs,  till  the  happy  day,  a century  ago,  when  the  great 
Pope  Pius  VI,  blending  all  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States,  of 
all  races  and  origins,  into  one  organization,  erected  the  see  of  Balti- 
more directly  dependent  on  the  chair  of  Peter,  with  a diocese  com- 
mensurate with  the  limits  of  the  republic,  and  placed  at  its  head  in 
Baltimore  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Carroll.  Men  of  English,  French,  and 
Spanish  origin,  with  Catholics  from  Germany  and  Ireland,  Indians 
and  negroes,  thus  from  the  first  constituted  the  faithful  of  the  diocese 
of  Baltimore,  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States.  Heirs  of  their  faith 
in  the  one  church  of  all  lands  and  times,  we  here  profess  our  deep 
and  loyal  reverence  for  the  See  of  Peter,  our  firm  and  devoted  adher- 
ence to  the  reigning  Pontiff,  Pope  Leo  XIII,  and  our  demand  that 
he  be  delivered  from  his  state  of  subjection,  and  restored  to  that 
political  independence  necessary  to  the  proper  government  of  the 
church.  Rome,  the  capital  of  the  Catholic  world,  must  cease  to  be 
a spot  where  the  Catholic  religion  and  its  venerable  head  are  daily 
oppressed  and  outraged  ; where  Christianity  is  derided,  public  honor 
paid  to  a profligate  atheist,  and  hymns  openly,  sung  to  Satan,  with 
the  tacit  sanction  or  direct  act  of  the  usurping  government. 

The  congress  can  express  its  appreciation  of  the  services  rend- 
ered to  religion  by  the  Catholic  congresses  of  Germany,  Bavaria, 
Belgium,  Spain,  and  Switzerland,  and  its  deep  sense  of  the  great 
benefits  which  have  resulted  from  Catholic  associations  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  hope  that  by  united  and  harmonious  action  they  will 
soon  aid  in  making  the  Catholic  congresses  of  the  United  States  potent 
for  good. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  is  by  the  amended  consti- 
tution precluded  from  making  an  established  church,  yet  while  not 
directly  doing  this,  the  federal  government  has  constantly  invaded 
the  rights  of  Catholics  secured  by  the  constitution  or  by  treaty. 


Property  belonging  to  the  church  has  in  more  than  ot\e  instance  been 
seized,  the  religious  rights  of  Catholics  in  the  military  and  naval 
forces  of  the  United  States  are  often,  indeed  almost  invariably,  dis- 
regarded. 

The  Indian  department  calls  for  prompt  and  energetic  action 
It  has  for  years  been  managed  in  a way  to  thwart  the  labors  of 
Catholic  missionaries  among  the  native  tribes,  break  up  their  estab- 
lishments as  soon  as  they  show  signs  of  prosperity,  and  place  Catholic 
Indians  and  their  schools  under  non-Cathohc  control. 

In  the  several  states  questions  arise  from  time  to  time  relating 
to  education,  the  power  of  Catholics  to  dispose  of  their  property  by 
will,  the  rights  of  Catholics  to  freedom  of  worship  in  penal  and  elee- 
mosynary institutions,  rights  of  Catholics  to  their  property  in 
churches  and  institutions.  In  these  the  congress  can  only  co-operate 
with  local  advocates  of  the  right;  but  there  seems  to  be  a necessity 
for  the  creation  of  a Catholic  legal  board  for  the  whole  country, 
composed  of  able  lawyers,  to  whom  all  important  law  cases  can  be 
confided,  and  whose  legal  experience  and  special  studies  will  insure 
in  the  first  instance  a clear  and  sound  decision,  obviating  long  and 
tedious  appeals. 

The  voice  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  proclaims:  “ We  must  make 
education  more  Catholic.”  This  is  all  the  more  necessary,  as  the 
tendency  in  the  country  is  to  exclude  all  religion  and  the  very  name 
of  God  from  the  schools.  This  renders  the  maintenance  and  exten- 
sion of  religious  schools  a matter  of  paramount  necessity. 

In  counteracting  error  and  spreading  among  our  own  people  and 
unbiased  inquirers,  truth  in  regard  to  our  doctrines,  worship,  and 
history,  much  is  yet  to  be  done.  English-speaking  Catholics  num- 
ber now  about  20,000,000,  about  one-half  in  America.  Yet  the 
diffusion  of  Catholic  books,  periodicals,  and  papers  is  altogether  too 
limited.  Co-operation  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  this 
country,  properly  organized,  might  do  much  to  multiply  and  spread 
healthy  Catholic  reading.  The  Catholic  press  will  he  treated  specially, 
and  requires  no  comment  here. 

Associations  for  the  diffusion  of  Catholic  books  have  been  at- 
tempted, but  though  the  results  were  not  encouraging,  we  ought  by 
proper  organization  to  do  what  other  religious  bodies  accomplish  in 
this  respect. 

Catholic  historical  societies  are  doing  good  work  to  rectify  omis- 
sions, suppressions,  and  falsifications  of  current  books,  used  even  in 
schools,  and  need  generous  encouragement. 

The  papers  that  will  be  read  before  the  congress  treat  of  the 
great  questions  affecting  us  all  as  Catholic  citizens  of  a free  country: 
Education,  literature,  charitable  organizations,  the  care  of  the 
afflicted,  the  diffusion  of  truth,  and  the  defense  of  our  rights.  But 
there  is  one  thought  to  nerve  us  all.  After  two  centuries  of  struggle 
we  have  had  our  church  organized  for  a hundred  years.  It  has 
grown  and  stands  to-day  an  object  of  admiration.  The  Catholic 
Church  in  the  United  States  is  to  day  the  only  body  that  speaks  with 
no  uncertain  voice  on  questions  of  faith.  Her  creed,  her  worship, 
her  judgment  on  questions  is  known,  fixed,  invariable-.  Others  may 
hesitate,  may  change,  may  alter.  People  begin  to  look  to  the  church 
with  respect.  Other  denominations  begin  to  return  to  its  tenets,  to 
its  externals;  the  cross,  the  altar,  vestments,  lights,  once  objects  of 
scorn,  are  now  approved  and  accepted.  We  of  the  laity  touch  even- 
day  intelligent  inquirers;  it  is  our  duty  to  know  our  faith  and  to  ex- 
plain it.  It  is  our  duty  to  edify  by  our  lives,  and  edify  means  to 
build  the  church. 

There  are  thus  many  and  vital  questions  for  the  consideration 
of  the  lay  congress,  and  which  can  be  discussed  with  advantage. 
The  Catholic  laity  of  the  country,  aroused  by  the  reports  of  the 
members,  can  thus  prepare  to  devise  and  plan  concurrent  action  so 
as  to  give  strength  to  the  whole  body.  Keep  alive  attachment  to 
the  church,  and  secure  from  the  designs  of  latent  or  overt  proselytism 
the  rising  generations,  that  the  faith  may  be  handed  down  intact 
from  sire  to  son.  (Applause.) 

LAY  ACTION  IN  THE  CHURCH. 

SECOND  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  HENRY  F.  BROWNSON,  LL.  D.,  OF 

DETROIT,  MICH. 

This  Assembly  of  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  in  their 
first  congress  is  a scene  of  unusual  interest,  and  promises  results  of 
the  greatest  importance. 

We  have  seen  similar  gatherings,  in  other  lands,  of  venerable 
ecclesiastics  and  learned  laymen,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the 
questions  now  agitating  society  in  every  country. 

There  have  been  congresses  in  this  country  of  special  classes 


28 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


and  interests; -but  a congress  composed  of  laymen  of  every  class, 
section,  and  nationality,  meeting  to  consider  the  general  interests  of 
the  whole  Catholic  population  of  the  Union,  is  now  held  for  the 
first  time. 

We  pretend  not  to  be  superior  to  others  in  wisdom  or  prudence, 
or  better  able  to  apply  CatholTc  principles  to  social  questions.  But 
living,  as  we  do,  in  the  only  land  on  earth  where  the  state  declares 
itself  incompetent  in  spirituals,  and  leaves  to  every  individual  com- 
plete religious,  as  well  as  civil,  freedom,  we  have  not  to  inquire,  as 
in  other  countries,  what  the  government  will  permit  us  to  do,  or 
what  will  be  the  effect  of  our  action  on  our  political  or  civil  stand- 
ing -complex  questions,  indeed,  and  leading  to  divergency  of 
opinion  and  weakness  of  action — but  have  simply  to  understand 
the  questions,  and  the  principles  which  should  govern  their  solu- 
tion, and  to  make  the  necessary  application.  We  have  only  to  ask, 
What  is  right?  What  is  best?  This  greater  freedom  which  we 
enjoy  will  naturally  lead  to  bolder  and  more  straight-forward  dis- 
cussion, and  to  more  vigorous  action. 

Congresses  of  this  character  have  not  been  convoked  in  the 
past  ages  of  the  church,  for  the  simple  reason  that  there  was  no 
work  that  required  their  assembling.  They  are  necessary  now,  in 
consequence  of  the  introduction  of  popular  government,  that  they 
may  give  a correct  tone  to  public  opinion;  they  are  necessary 
because  individuals  now  count  for  little,  except  as  the  units  consti- 
tuting corporations,  associations,  trusts,  and  syndicates;  they  are 
necessary  because  the  enemies  of  Christianity  are  banded  together 
in  a league  against  us,  and  can  be  resisted  only  by  united  action; 
they  are,  in  fine,  necessary  here  and  now  because  the  Catholic  body 
in  the  United  States  is  made  up  of  various  nationalities,  with  a 
diversity  of  customs,  traditions,  and  interests,  which  tend  to  sepa- 
rate them  one  from  another,  and  it  is  consequently  necessary  to 
draw  closer  the  bonds  which  unite  us  all  as  members  of  the  one 
body  of  Christ,  children  of  the  same  mother  church,  and  heirs  of 
the  same  eternal  home  in  heaven. 

We  do  not  meet  to  discuss  questions  of  faith,  or  principles  of 
morals,  or  to  reform  the  discipline  of  the  church.  We  leave  all  that 
to  the  pastors  commissioned  to  teach  and  to  govern.  But  we  are 
assembled  to  express  our  Catholic  loyalty,  and  our  sympathy  with 
our  persecuted  head,  to  protect  our  rights,  to  throw  such  light  as  we 
can  on  social  problems  ; and  to  do  all  that  lies  in  our  power  to 
instruct  and  aid  those  less  fortunate  than  ourselves. 

The  laity  are  bound  by  the  precepts  of  charity  as  well  as  are  the 
clergy,  and  have  in  all  ages  endeavored  to  cooperate  with  the  clergy 
in  the  work  of  saving  souls,  and  alleviating  human  misery. 

In  the  first  ages  of  Christianity  the  part  taken  by  the  laity  in 
the  action  of  the  church  was  so  much  more  prominent  than  in  later 
times,  that  many  have  maintained  that  the  distinction  of  clergy  and 
laity  was  unknown  in  the  apostolic  age.  Such  is  not  the  fact.  But 
it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  after  the  conquest  of  Rome  by  the  bar- 
barians, a change  in  this  respect  was  induced  by  the  altered  condi- 
tions of  society.  The  laity  sat  in  the  first  general  synod,  presided 
over  by  St.  Peter,  though,  doubtless,  they  left  the  judgment  to  the 
acostles  and  ancients.  Later  the  emperors  sat  in  their  place. 

The  laity  elected  the  first  deacons,  and  they  participated  in  the 
choice  of  a successor  to  Judas  Iscariot.  They  had  a voice  in  the 
election  of  popes  and  bishops  as  late  as  the  latter  half  of  the  eleventh 
century,  after  which  time  the  cathedral  chapters  elected  bishops  ; 
though  there  are  instances  in  the  twelfth  century  of  such  election  by 
people  and  clergy. 

Laymen  preached  and  expounded  sacred  Scripture  in  church, 
from  the  earliest  period.  When  Origen,  at  the  request  of  the  bishops 
of  Palestine,  began  to  preach  at  Caesarea,  the  metropolitan  of  Alex- 
andria, Demetrius,  desired  his  return  to  Egypt,  and  expressed  aston- 
ishment at  his  preaching  in  church  and  before  bishops.  St.  Alexan- 
der, metropolitan  of  Jerusalem,  and  Theoctistus,  bishop  of  Caesarea, 
replied  that  they  could  not  see  how  Demetrius  could  say  it  was  an 
unheard-of  thing  for  laymen  to  preach  in  church  in  the  presence  of 
bishops;  for  it  was  customary  for  bishops  to  request  such  laymen  as 
had  the  ability,  to  explain  the  Scriptures  in  their  churches.  They 
cite  three  other  instances  within  their  own  knowledge,  and  cannot 
tell  how  many  other  such  instances  there  might  be.  The  objection 
of  Demetrius  merely  proves  that  the  custom  was  falling  into  disuse 
in  the  third  century,  and  was  no  longer  as  general  as  it  had  been  in 
the  second  century  or  in  the  apostolic  age. 

The  laity  aided  greatly  in  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  empire 
and  the  overthrow  of  paganism.  By  their  apologies,  their  discourses 
in  the  senate,  their  social,  political,  and  religious  influence  generally, 
they  had  given  such  a tone  of  Christianity  to  the  empire  that, 
whether  Constantine  was  sincere  or  not  in  throwing  his  influence  on 


the  side  of  Christianity,  he  would  have  been  wanting  in  statesman- 
ship if  he  had  continued  to  uphold  the  failing  cause. 

From  Hermas,  whose  ‘ ‘ Shepherd  ’ ’ was  read  in  church  as  in- 
spired Scripture,  there  was  a succession  of  great  laymen,  whose  writ- 
ings in  defense  of  the  church  against  Jews,  gentiles,  and  heretics 
contributed  to  the  triumph  of  Christianity  in  the  fourth  century. 
The  author  of  the  epistle  to  Diognetes,  St.  Aristides,  St.  Agrippa 
Castor,  St.  Aristo  of  Pella,  St.  Hegesippus,  St.  Athenagoras, 
Apollonius,  Hermias,  Miltiades,  Candidus,  Apion,  Rhodon,  Am- 
monius,  Minucius  Felix,  Lactantius,  and  Arnobius  illustrated  the 
early  ages  of  Christianity  by  their  writings,  whilst  Roman  senators 
like  St.  Apollonius,  in  the  reign  of  Commodus,  boldly  spoke  in  its 
defense  in  the  senate  of  Rome. 

In  the  first  ages,  the  Catholic  laity,  mingling  with  those  outside 
of  the  church,  were,  in  a sense,  missionaries.  Their  influence  was 
felt  in  every  class  and  occupation  of  society,  in  which  they  gathered 
catechumens  for  the  bishops. 

After  the  conversion  of  the  barbarians,  the  action  of  the  laity 
was  in  many  respects  different  from  what  it  had  been  under  the  em- 
pire. The  whole  population  having  become  Catholic,  their  action 
was  now  directed  within  the  church,  except  so  far  as  they  were  en- 
gaged in  military  movements  against  the  infidels  for  the  defense  of 
the  country  or  to  recover  the  lost  portions. 

During  these  centuries  they  rivalled  the  popes  and  bishops  and 
lower  order  of  the  clergy  in  their  labors  for  the  establishment  of 
religious,  eleemosynary,  and  educational  institutions. 

As  the  middle  ages  passed  away,  absolutism,  which  had  tri- 
umphed in  the  lower  empire,  and  caused  the  Greek  schism,  acquired 
supremacy  in  Europe.  Its  main  defenders  in  former  ages,  the  French 
and  German  tyrants,  had  been  opposed  and  excommunicated  by  the 
popes.  A more  powerful  enemy  to  religion  than  even  heresy,  it 
strengthened  Protestantism,  and  was  strengthened  by  it  in  turn. 
Catholic  nations  were  the  last  to  accept  it;  and  in  their  conservative 
spirit,  are  the  last  to  abandon  it.  Deposed  from  the  thrones,  it  still 
lingers  in  the  habits  of  thought  and  modes  of  action  of  those  who 
reject  indiscriminately  everything  that  savors  of  modern  civilization. 
But,  as  the  church  accepted  the  Roman  and  the  mediaeval  civiliza- 
tions, encouraging  what  was  good  in  them,  and  endeavoring  to  elimi- 
nate the  evil,  so  now  our  Holy  Father,  in  his  allocutions  and 
encyclicals,  has  distinctly  pointed  out  the  different  elements  of  our 
present  civilization.  If  we  would  weigh  well  his  words,  we  should 
see  that  it  is  our  duty  to  accept  all  that  is  good  in  this  civilization, 
instead  of  vainly  attempting  to  resist  the  march  of  events,  and  to 
bring  back  again  the  dead  past. 

When  catholicity  had  become  a part  of  the  municipal  law  it  was 
the  policy  of  both  church  and  state  to  cut  off  all  communication 
between  Catholics  and  heretics,  and  for  fear  of  heretical  utterances 
on  the  part  of  the  laity  to  repress  all  expression  on  their  part  in  con- 
nection with  religion.  Imprimaturs  were  introduced  and  ecclesias- 
tical revision  before  publication  when  books  began  to  be  multiplied 
by  new  invention.  It  was  hoped  that  the  faith  could  be  preserved 
by  the  suppression  of  unsound  doctrine. 

The  conditions  of  things  are  now  changed.  Nowhere  are  the 
people  all  Catholics,  and  even  in  the  few  countries  where  they  are 
nearly  so,  it  is  impossible  to  prevent  them  from  hearing  false  doc- 
trines. To  pretend  to  keep  them  from  error  by  the  restriction  of 
free  speech  in  these  days  is  as  idle  as  to  blow  against  the  wind. 
Those  within  the  church  who  are  likely  to  say  anything  to  the  injury 
of  religion  can  no  more  be  repressed  by  ecclesiastical  supervision 
than  those  without.  The  only  men  whose  utterances  can  thus  be 
checked  are  the  loyal  and  obedient  sons  of  the  church,  from  whom 
there  is  no  danger  to  be  apprehended. 

The  canons  of  the  church  would  seem  to  be  strict  enough  in 
this  regard.  They  subject  the  writer  to  ecclesiastical  censure  for 
whatever  errors  he  may  fall  into;  but  I think  there  is  no  canon, 
not  fallen  into  desuetude,  if  it  ever  existed,  that  prohibits  him  from 
speaking  on  matters  connected  with  religion  without  the  license  of 
ecclesiastical  authority  first  obtained.  If  he  speaks  or  writes 
without  previous  supervision,  he  merely  does  so  at  his  risk,  and 
must  submit  to  the  penalty  if  he  goes  astray. 

Almighty  God  has,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  allowed  man  the 
liberty  of  thought  and  of  speech,  foreseeing,  as  he  did,  how  exten- 
sively that  liberty  would  be  abused.  Undoubtedly,  he  has  forbidden 
such  abuse,  and  all  wilful  error  of  thought  or  word  is  sinful.  But 
his  glory  demanded  the  service  of  free  minds  and  tongues,  and  the 
devout  utterances  of  mankind  in  all  ages  have  glorified  their  Maker 
with  a glory  that  all  the  heresies  and  blasphemies  from  the  begin- 
ning have  failed  to  diminish  — nay,  have  only  made  the  brighter. 

It  is  better  that  men  should  sometimes  fall  into  involuntary 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


29 


error  than  that  they  should  stagnate  in  silence  and  imbecility.  If 
we  were  to  burn  all  the  books  of  writers  who  have  made  mistakes  in 
matters  of  faith  and  morals,  how  many  fathers  and  doctors  of  the 
church  would  escape  ? 

In  spite  of  our  regrets,  the  mediaeval  epoch  has  passed,  and  we 
no  longer  live  in  a nominally  Catholic  society.  We  are  surrounded 
by  heretical  and  pagan  influences.  We  are  very  nearly  back  where 
the  world  was  1,900  years  ago,  and  all  the  nations  need  to  be  recon- 
verted and  society  regenerated.  Whilst  we  devote  our  resources  to 
keeping  those  we  already  have,  our  losses  are  enormous.  We  shall 
go  on  losing  still  more  unless  we  extend  our  efforts  to  the  world 
around  us.  Not  to  advance  is  to  recede.  If  we  do  nothing  to  con- 
vert those  amongst  whom  we  live,  they  will  succeed  in  leading  away 
large  numbers  from  us. 

For  this  it  is  necessary  that  we  bring  our  intellectual  life  into 
harmony  with  our  religious.  If  religion  was  deeply  rooted  in  the 
intellect  and  the  will  — man’s  rational  nature,  and  that  which  dis- 
tinguishes him  from  other  animals  — free  and  intelligent  men  would 
be  able  to  act  and  to  speak,  when  occasion  is  presented,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  principles  they  have  learned  and  assimilated  to  their 
life.  A child,  a slave,  or  a barbarian  may  need  to  be  commanded  or 
instructed  at  every  step;  but  not  those  who  have  attained  to  matur- 
ity, freedom,  and  civilization.  With  the  great  mass,  religion  is  less 
a matter  of  the  rational  than  of  the  sentimental  nature.  Because 
faith  is  feeble,  the  sentiments  and  affections  have  to  be  captivated  by 
every  variety  of  devotion,  and  the  sentimental  spirit  of  the  age 
threatens  to  pervade  every  mind.  In  its  truest  expression,  in  pop- 
ular literature,  this  spirit  has  degraded  the  holy  affection  of  conjugal 
love  to  a sentiment  common  to  men  and  beasts;  and  it  would  make 
piety  a thing  of  sensibility,  which  men  will  abandon  to  the  tender 
nurture  of  “ the  devout  sex.”  Never  was  there  more  devotion  and 
piety  in  the  church  than  to-day,  and  it  may  be  that  God  has  chosen 
this  as  the  means  for  the  reconversion  of  the  nations.  God’s  ways, 
indeed,  are  not  man’s  ways.  But  it  is  not  for  us  to  fold  our  arms  and 
trust  to  prayer  alone  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  work.  Prayer 
is  good,  is  necessary;  but  its  effect  is  to  gain  divine  assistance  in  our 
efforts,  not  to  render  effort  unnecessary.  God  has,  from  the  begin- 
ning, worked  through  second  causes  in  the  supernatural,  as  in  the 
natural,  order.  He  helps  those  who  help  themselves,  and  requires 
cooperation  on  our  part.  The  world  has  never  yet  been  converted 
by  prayer  alone,  and  it  is  not  likely  it  ever  will  be. 

The  laity  have  begun  everywhere  to  take  an  active  interest  in 
works  directly  or  indirectly  aiding  the  action  of  the  church.  Un- 
fortunately, wherever  in  the  old  world  they  have  attempted  any- 
thing more  than  the  spread  of  particular  devotions,  or  the  establish- 
ment of  benevolent  and  educational  institutions,  they  have  been 
embarrassed  by  the  complicated  relations  of  church  and  state,  as 
well  as  by  love  of  routine  and  fear  of  novelty  on  the  part  of  many. 

The  prospect  was  bright  in  France  when,  on  the  downfall  of 
the  House  of  Orleans,  a heroic  band  of  Catholics  standing  up  for 
religion  secured  to  the  church  a freedom  and  prosperity  that  had 
not  been  known  in  that  country  since  the  birth  of  the  French  mon- 
archy. But  a converted  infidel,  more  cunning  in  vituperation  and 
sarcasm  than  wise  in  understanding  the  times,  gained  the  confi- 
dence of  the  reactionary  party,  and  by  his  advocacy  of  absolutism, 
so  identified  Csesarism  with  Catholicity  in  the  minds  of  the  French 
people,  that  he  thwarted  all  the  efforts  of  the  friends  of  liberty,  and 
left  the  church  a prey  to  persecution  by  the  enemies  of  imperialism. 

Here,  more  than  in  other  countries,  is  there  need  that  the  laity 
should  bear  their  part  in  church  action,  and  do  all  that  laymen  may 
lawfully  do.  Our  clergy  are  overworked.  They  are  not  numerous 
enough  to  supply  the  wants  of  those  already  Catholics,  and  we 
ought  generously  to  take  as  much  of  their  burden  as  we  can  upon 
ourselves.  We  can  do  much  by  our  writings,  our  speeches,  and  our 
lives,  to  disabuse  those  outside  of  the  church  of  their  prejudices, 
and  to  make  them  understand  the  true  doctrine  and  practice  of  the 
church.  All  that  the  church  teaches  and  enjoins  is  so  conformed  to 
right  reason,  that  no  man  not  blinded  by  prejudice  or  passion,  can 
refuse  his  approval,  when  he  clearly  knows  it.  A layman  may 
often  get  the  ear  of  a non-Catliolic  that  the  priest  cannot  reach,  and 
an  intelligent  explanation  of  Catholic  doctrine  and  practice  by  a 
layman  will,  in  many  cases,  carry  more  weight  than  that  made  by 
the  priest,  because  it  is  in  a language  and  form  of  thought  better 
understood  and  appreciated,  and  is  less  likely  to  be  thought  in- 
sincere. 

By  exercising  their  proper  influence  in  politics,  Catholics  could 
go  far  towards  purifying  them  from  the  corruption  which  infects 
them.  It  is  all  very  well  to  say  that  a republican  form  of  govern- 
ment is  sustained  by  the  church,  and  without  that  support  must 


run  into  license  or  misrule;  but  the  church  can  only  exercise  her 
influence  through  the  individual  action  of  her  members.  If  Cath 
olics  separate  religion  from  politics,  claiming  that  politics  are  inde- 
pendent of  religion,  how  can  the  church  produce  any  effect  in 
support  of  popular  government  ? But>  if  the  two  or  three  million 
Catholic  voters  in  the  country  were  all  firmly  convinced  that  the 
right  of  suffrage  is  a trust  which  they  are  bound  in  conscience  to 
exercise  in  favor  of  right  measures  and  upright  and  competent 
candidates,  and  were  determined  to  vote  honestly,  neither  buying 
nor  selling  their  own  or  another’s  vote,  their  influence  would  do 
much,  if  not  all  that  is  needed,  to  bring  back  our  elections  to  their 
pristine  purity. 

If  Catholics  would  unite  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  they 
could  abolish  all  the  drinking-saloons,  or  bar-rooms  in  the  land, 
thereby  doing  away  with  the  main  cause  of  the  corruption  in  pol- 
itics, the  source  of  more  than  half  of  the  crimes,  and  of  nearly  all 
the  pauperism  in  the  country. 

In  the  great  philanthropic  and  reformatory  movements  of  the 
day,  the  Catholic  laity  might  well  take  part.  Instead  of  holding 
aloof  and  decrying  such  movements  as  visionary  and  fanatical,  let 
them  join  in  them,  infuse  into  them  the  true  spirit  of  charity,  and 
give  them  a Catholic  direction.  By  assuming  their  proper  share  in 
the  management  of  our  hospitals,  asylums,  prisons,  and  peniten- 
tiaries, they  can  procure  the  means  of  solacing  the  unfortunate  and 
reforming  the  erring,  and  have  the  right  to  insist  on  Catholic  in- 
mates being  freely  ministered  to  by  their  own  clergy. 

I would  not  underrate  the  great  good  now  accomplished  by  our 
benevolent  associations,  conferences  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  and 
other  societies  of  men  and  women  for  mutual  benefit,  or  for  aiding 
the  poor.  I would  only  multiply  them  till  every  Catholic  man  and 
woman  in  the  land  was  enrolled  in  one  or  another  of  them.  Every- 
thing that  will  promote  the  intellectual,  moral, or  social  well-being 
of  the  country,  is  so  much  gain  for  religion.  For,  although  the 
church  was  not  established  for  the  direct  purpose  of  civilizing  the 
nations,  she  indirectly  promotes  civilization  whilst  laboring  to  fit 
man  for  the  life  hereafter;  and  the  higher  the  civilization  of  a 
people,  the  more  is  that  people  in  harmony  with  Catholicity. 

No  constitution  can  be  more  in  harmony  with  Catholic  prin- 
ciples than  is  the  American,  and  no  religion  can  be  in  such  accord 
with  that  constitution  as  is  the  Catholic;  and  while  the  state  is  not 
absorbed  in  the  church,  nor  the  church  in  the  state,  but  there  is 
external  separation,  they  both  derive  their  life  from  the  same  interior 
principle  of  Catholic  truth,  and  in  their  different  spheres  carry  out 
the  same  idea. 

Our  American  constitution  is  the  only  philosophical,  or  dialectic, 
constitution  the  world  has  ever  known.  It  has  not  only  eliminated 
the  barbarism  of.  the  Graeco-Roman  civilization,  abolished  all  priv- 
ileged and  slave  classes,  and  extended  equal  rights  to  all,  but 
it  is  founded  in  a living  principle.  All  life  is  based  on  unity  in 
diversity;  on  extremes,  with  a medium  of  reconciliation.  Unity 
without  diversity  is  stagnation  or  death;  diversity  without  unity  is 
discord.  The  first  results  in  centralized  despotism;  the  second,  in 
anarchy.  Our  constitution,  by  the  providential  events  which  gave 
it  both,  rather  than  by  human  counsel,  is  not  only  democratic,  but, 
by  the  division  of  the  powers  of  government  between  the  general 
and  the  state  governments,  each  acting  in  its  own  sphere,  is  founded 
in  truth  and  in  reality,  has  in  it  the  principle  of  life,  and  so  long  as 
it  is  preserved  in  its  essential  character,  cannot  die. 

The  American  system  is  also  anti-Protestant,  and  must  either 
reject  Protestantism  or  be  overthrown  by  it.  Based  on  natural  law 
and  justice,  our  institutions  are  incompatible  with  a religion  claim- 
ing to  be  revealed,  but  which  fails  to  harmonize  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural,  reason  and  revelation,  calls  reason  ‘ ‘ a stupid  ass,  ” and 
says  nature  is  totally  depraved. 

The  principles  of  our  civilization  were  taught  by  the  fathers 
and  doctors  of  the  church,  her  councils  and  pontiffs,  who  endeavored 
in  vain  to  make  them  prevail  under  either  the  Roman  or  the  German 
order  of  civilization.  What  those  could  not  abolish  in  the  Old 
World,  our  forefathers  left  behind,  bringing  with  them  all  that  was 
worth  preserving  of  European  civilization;  but  not  its  inequalities 
or  its  superstitions.  Like  the  Catholic  Church,  and  like  God  him- 
self, we  are  no  respecters  of  persons;  but  welcome  alike  all  classes, 
conditions,  and  colors,  so  long  as  they  will  conduct  themselves 
orderly  and  decently. 

But  while  the  political  and  civil  order  of  this  country  is  not 
antagonistic  to  the  church,  nor  the  church  hostile  to  the  institutions 
and  patriotism  of  the  nation,  it  is  not  pretended  that  the  sentiments 
or  morals  of  the  people  are  more  in  accord  with  Catholicity  than  in 
other  countries.  In  public  or  private  virtue,  Americans  have  noth- 


3° 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


ing  to  boast  of  over  the  rest  of  the  world,  whatever  may  have 
been  the  fact  in  this  respect  a hundred,  or  even  fifty,  years  ago,  and 
we  do  not  ask  our  citizens  of  foreign  birth  to  adopt  our  morals  or 
sentiments,  when  we  speak  of  their  duty  to  become  Americans. 
What  we  mean  is  that  the}"  should  study  the  American  political 
and  civil  order,  and  labor  for  the  interest  of  American  civilization. 

Not  only  are  the  sentiments  and  opinions  of  the  majority  of  the 
American  people  opposed  to  the  church,  but  many  of  the  habits  and 
usages  of  portions  of  the  Catholic  body  are  offensive  to  that  major- 
ity; and  as  many  Catholics  form  their  opinion  of  the  American 
civil  and  political  order  from  the  actions  and  expressions  of  the 
American  people,  non-Catholics  are  in  like  manner  apt  to  judge  the 
church  by  its  members.  Catholics  ought  therefore  to  eliminate  from 
their  body  such  customs  as  are  both  offensive  to  Americans,  and  dis- 
approved of  by  the  church,  study  the  American  system  and  institu- 
tions, and  conform  to  them,  and  let  non-Catholics  know  the  church 
as  she  really  is,  and  entire  harmony  would  result  in  individuals,  and 
the  ideal  of  Christian  society  be  actualized  on  earth. 

Let  us  mingle  more  in  such  works  of  natural  virtue  as  our 
non-Catholic  fellow-citizens  are  engaged  in,  and  try  to  exert  a 
Catholic  influence  outside  of  our  own  body,  making  ourselves  better 
known,  and  at  the  same  time  that  we  cooperate  in  those  good  works 
infuse  into  them  something  of  our  holier  religion.  And  as  we  do 
this,  let  us  draw  closer  the  bonds  that  unite  us  to  one  another,  for 
union  and  concord  among  ourselves  will  then  need  strengthening, 
and  will  strengthen  us  in  turn. 

Individuals  count  for  so  little  nowadays  that  to  produce  any 
great  effect,  we  must  form  associations — local  associations,  and  asso- 
ciations for  special  purposes,  but,  most  of  all,  one  grand  organiza- 
tion of  the  entire  Catholic  laity  of  the  United  States,  with  regularly 
constituted  officers  and  committees,  meeting  at  regular  intervals  in 
a Catholic  lay  congress,  for  the  purpose  of  manifesting  and  strength- 
ening their  Catholic  loyalty  and  union,  defending  their  rights,  and 
by  discussion  and  instruction  helping  those  who  are  ignorant  or 
weak.  “Religion  pure  and  undefiled  with  God  and  the  Father  is 
this:  To  visit  the  orphans  and  widows  in  their  trouble  and  keep 
one’s  self  unspotted  from  the  world.’’  St.  James  i : 27. 

To  enable  the  laity  to  work  to  any  advantage  in  the  cause  of 
religion,  there  must  be  confidence  in  them  on  the  part  of  the  clergy, 
and  manliness  and  freedom  on  their  part.  It  is  necessary  that  there 
should  be  confidence  in  the  intelligence  and  motives  of  laymen.  If 
they  are  only  to  repeat  what  is  dictated  to  them,  never  think  for 
themselves,  or  dare  utter  their  thoughts,  they  can  have  no  energy 
or  freedom,  and  can  produce  no  effect. 

The  great  mass  of  Catholics  adhere  to  their  religion  from  mo- 
tives of  conscience.  Separation  from  the  church  is  no  longer  equiv- 
alent to  outlawry,  or  privation  of  fire  and  water.  Every  advantage, 
from  a worldly  point  of  view,  is  now  on  the  other  side,  and  it  may 
well  be  presumed,  until  there  is  proof  to  the  contrary,  that  such 
Catholic  laymen  as  devote  their  time  and  abilities  to  the  interests  of 
religion,  are  actuated  by  love  of  it.  That  they  will  act  intelligently 
is  further  presumable.  They  have  shown  in  mechanical,  industrial, 
and  commercial  enterprises  a mental  activity  that  claims  admiration, 
and  which  would  be  of  inestimable  value  if  applied  in  the  cause  of 
religion  and  charity.  They,  as  well  as  the  clergy,  have  been  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  and  made  soldiers 
of  Christ’s  faith,  and  in  their  proper  sphere,  will  not  lack  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Divine  Spirit. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  necessary  confidence  will  be 
given  at  once.  We  must  gain  it  by  proving  ourselves  deserving  of 
it.  Let  us  say  what  we  have  to  say  boldly  and  distinctly,  without 
circumlocution  or  insinuation,  and  when  it  becomes  apparent  that 
there  is  no  guile  in  us,  we  shall  win  the  confidence  of  our  pastors, 
our  fellow-Catholics  and  of  the  world  at  large,  and  our  utterances 
will  command  attention.  (Applause). 

THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

THIRD  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  CHARLES  J.  BONAPARTE,  OF  BALTI- 
MORE. MD. 

When  Leo  III  placed  on  the  brow  of  Charlemagne  the 
diadem  of  the  Caesars,  liis  act  was  pregnant  with  all  the  problems, 
solved  or  yet  seeking  solution,  of  later  mediaeval  and  modern  his- 
tory ; yet  of  these  none  was  of  weightier  or  more  abiding  import  to 
mankind  than  his  own  relations  toward  the  master  he  claimed  to 
give  the  Christian  world.  He  and  men  about  him  may  not  have 
feared  lest  the  heir  of  Peter  should  sink  into  a spiritual  exarch  for 
the  heir  of  Augustus,  a patriarch  of  the  old  Rome  as  subservient 


to  her  temporal  ruler  as  the  patriarch  of  the  new  Rome  ever  was  to 
him  who  bore  sway  on  the  Bosphorus,  or  as  the  patriarch  of  Moscow 
should  once  be  to  the  autocrat  of  the  Kremlin;  but  humanly  speak- 
ing, this  was  more  than  possible.  Disguised  by  mutual  reverence 
and  unbroken  concord  under  the  great  Charles;  postponed  by  the 
weakness  of  his  earlier  successors,  and  the  anarchy  of  ensuing  ages, 
the  momentous  question  whether  the  Roman  pontiff  was  the  Roman 
emperor’s  first  servant  or  his  elder  colleague,  as  supreme  in  his  own 
province  of  government  as  the  Caesar  in  his,  became  daily  more  and 
more  urgent  when  the  great  Saxon  and  Franconian  emperors  had 
converted  into  a practical  dominion  over  central  Europe  the  shadowy 
tradition  of  Charlemagne’s  wider  realm.  The  answer  was  sought 
amid  conflicting  claims  and  inconsistent  precedents,  until  given  by 
the  issue  of  a gigantic  struggle,  which  for  two  centuries  distracted 
Latin  Christendom.  One  hundred  and  eighty  years  of  strife  from 
the  Hilclebrandine  reforms  to  the  death  of  Frederick  the  Second  as- 
sured the  liberty  of  the  Holy  See  by  the  destruction,  in  all  but  form, 
of  its  most  splendid  creation.  The  Holy  Roman  Empire  entered  on 
its  contest  with  the  power  that  gave  it  birth  at  the  zenith  of  its  dig- 
nity and  strength;  that  contest  left  it  hardly  more  than  a spectre; 
magni  nominis  umbra.  It  existed  long  afterwards,  and  from  time  to 
time  men  dreamed  that  it  might  be  recalled  to  true  life,  but  with  the 
fall  of  the  Hohenstaufen  it  received  its  death  wound;  through  all 
its  long  decline  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  years  down  to  its  inglorious 
end  it  was  never  again,  unless  by  an  abuse  of  language,  either  holy, 
or  Roman,  or  an  empire.  Europe  gave  up  what  was  perhaps  the 
most  gorgeous  and  seductive  phantasy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the 
vision  of  a universal  Christian  monarchy,  because  its  realization  was 
found  practically  inconsistent  with  freedom  for  the  earthly  head  of 
the  Christian  Church.  Nor,  to  my  mind,  was  this  loss  too  high  a 
price  to  pay  for  the  lesson,  that,  although  it  matters  little  if  the 
Pope  be  an  exile  or  a captive,  a subject  he  cannot  be;  where  he  is 
at  home,  there  of  right  he  must  be  master. 

Thus  Catholic  Christians  have  thought  for  six  centuries  ; is 
there  any  reason  why  they  should  think  otherwise  now  ? Before 
replying  let  us  for  a moment  consider  what  was  gained  to  the  church 
and  to  the  world  by  the  liberty  bought  with  so  great  a price. 

Its  most  obvious  consequence  was  to  save  Europe  from  a uni- 
versal dominion.  The  Emperor  Henry  III  was  the  undoubted  sov- 
ereign of  all  Germany,  northern  and  central  Italy,  Switzerland,  the 
Netherlands,  and  those  other  lands  which  made  up  the  earlier 
Lotharingia  and  later  Burgundy  ; he  was  acknowledged  as  over-lord 
by  Denmark,  Hungary,  and  Poland;  and  could  advance  plausible, 
though  disputed,  pretensions  to  the  suzerainty  of  France,  Spain, 
and  even  England.  Had  this  vast  overshadowing  power  subjugated 
to  itself  the  whole  ecclesiastical  order  in  the  person  of  its  chief ; had 
submissive  popes  wielded  the  weapons  under  which  the  empire  crum- 
bled to  further  the  claims  it  had  inherited  from  Charlemagne,  and 
to  which  feudalism  had  given  wider  scope  and  a shape  more  imme- 
diately formidable  ; had  the  crusades  found  in  the  emperors  their 
natural  leaders,  and  the  two  great  orders  of  military  priesthood 
which  sprang  from  them  become,  as  these  so  well  might  have  be- 
come, the  militia  of  the  advocate  of  the  Universal  Church  ; had  the 
general  strengthening  of  royal  authority,  which  came  with  the  re- 
vived study  of  the  civil  law,  inured  to  the  benefit  of  a single  supreme 
ruler  instead  of  many  national  princes,  the  history  of  western  Eu- 
rope might  well  have  foreshadowed  the  centralization  and  absolut- 
ism of  Russia.  And  all  these  things  might  have  happened,  nay,  it 
is  overwhelmingly  probable  that  all  of  them  would  have  happened, 
but  for  the  vindicated  freedom  of  the  Holy  See. 

This,  however,  is  but  little  compared  with  other  results,  which 
are  not  less  certainly  its  fruit.  Amid  all  the  bloodshed,  lawlessness 
and  disorder  of  mediaeval  Europe,  an  influence  was  working,  des- 
tined to  regenerate  the  world.  In  the  weary  ages  while  a man’s 
dwelling  was  a fortress,  to  be  held  by  the  strong  hand  against  well 
nigh  ever}"  other  man,  that  dwelling  was  growing  to  be  something 
to  him  which  classical  antiquity  had  never  known.  Chronic  anarchy 
had  almost  blotted  from  his  mind  the  conceptions  of  patriotism  and 
civic  duty,  but  if  it  robbed  him  of  a country,  it  gave  him  a home. 
Living  constantly  with  his  wife  and  children  and  immediate  depend- 
ents, seldom  meeting  other  men  except  as  enemies,  always  finding 
at  his  own  hearth  the  center  of  his  thoughts  and  affections,  the 
domestic  virtues,  the  sentiments  which  dignify  and  sweeten  family 
life  gained  in  him  a strength  which  was  new  to  the  world.  And  on 
this  basis  was  gradually  built  up  a revived  patriotism.  He  who  had 
learned  to  think  with  a kind  of  reverence  of  his  mother,  his  wife,  his 
children,  was  slowly  but  surely  taught  to  respect  other  women  and 
children  and  to  prize  the  welfare  of  all  those  too  weak  to  defend 
themselves;  then  to  feel  strongly  his  own  duty  to  afford  them  pro- 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


tection  from  wrong;  then  to  see  clearly  that  such  protection  could 
be  adequately  provided  only  by  an  orderly  government;  finally  to 
recognize  the  value  of  this  government,  and  to  love  and  serve  it  for 
the  great  good  it  wrought.  Feudalism  itself  gave  to  Europe  fhe 
agency  which  converted  feudalism  into  lawful  society,  but  feudalism 
alone  could  not  have  given  it.  Closely  analogous  conditions  have 
existed  and  now  exist  in  many  Mahometan  countries.  Their  outcome 
has  never  been  the  same;  no  social  regeneration  has  ever  sprung 
from  a harem,  and  that  the  unbridled  license  and  universal  violence 
of  mediaeval  times  created  homes,  was  due,  not  to  feudalism  simply, 
but  to  feudalism  tempered  and  inspired  by  the  Christian  church. 
Yet  between  the  church  and  feudal  ideas  there  was  for  many  genera- 
tions a life-and-death  struggle,  of  all  the  more  doubtful  issue  because 
to  men  of  those  days  its  significance  was  veiled.  The  church  in  the 
end  transformed  and  thus  overthrew  feudalism,  but  feudalism  tried 
hard  to  transform  and  thus  stifle  the  church.  The  question  as  to 
investitures,  which  at  last  brought  Gregory  VII  and  Henry  IV  into 
open  collision,  was  a phase  in  the  scheme  of  reform  by  which  that 
great  pontiff  strove  to  enforce  celibacy  and  eradicate  simony  among 
the  secular  clergy.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  emperor’s  imme- 
diate motive,  in  resisting  this  he  was  defending,  more  or  less  con- 
sciously, the  vital  principle  of  feudal  society.  Every  civil  or  mili- 
tary ruler  then  purchased  his  authority  of  a superior  and  transmitted 
it  at  the  same  fixed  price  to  his  son;  it  was  in  the  logic  of  events 
that  this  system  must  either  be  extended  to  archbishops  and  bishops 
or  abandoned  for  judges  and  generals.  The  subjugation  of  the 
papacy  meant  the  inevitable,  if  not  immediate,  feudalization  of  the 
clergy,  and  this  would  have  as  inevitably  converted  them  into  a 
caste  of  sacerdotal  nobility,  practically  indistinguishable  in  manners 
and  morals  from  the  barons  and  knights  about  them.  A church 
thus  maimed  and  fettered  would  have  been  alike  helpless  and  un- 
worthy as  the  champion  of  Christian  morality,  and  the  renaissance, 
if  it  came,  would  have  softened  only  to  further  and  more  foully  cor- 
rupt. The  moral  health,  no  less  than  the  national  life  and  political 
liberties  of  all  the  peoples  of  western  Europe,  hinged  on  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Holy  See. 

If,  then,  this  independence  has  cost  so  much  and  done  so  much 
more,  he  who  questions  its  present  and  permanent  value  is  bound  to 
show  clearly  that  we  can  spare  what  our  fathers  prized  so  highly 
and  justly,  and  this  no  one  has,  to  my  knowledge,  even  attempted 
to  do.  The  church  extends  to-day  through  lands  unknown  to  the 
great  Hildebrand;  encounters  enemies,  obstacles,  dangers,  of  which 
he  never  thought;  employs  agencies  which  to  him  might  have  sav- 
ored of  miracle  or  magic;  but,  after  all,  she  is  still  the  same  church 
and  she  lives  in  the  same  world;  she  preaches  the  same  Gospel,  she 
deals  with  the  same  human  nature,  and  she  needs  now,  as  she 
needed  then,  a chief  ruler  who  for  what  he  does  or  leaves  undone 
shall  answer  at  no  human  judgment  seat. 

Nineteen  years  ago  the  Italian  government  forcibly  deprived 
Pius  IX  of  all  temporal  authority.  In  doing  this  it  professed  a 
scrupulous  regard  for  his  independence  as  head  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and,  by  the  famous  statute  of  May  13,  1871,  entitled,  “ Law 
Regarding  the  Prerogatives  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  and  the  Rela- 
tions of  the  Church  and  State,”  but  generally  known  as  the  ‘‘Law 
of  Guarantees,”  it  claimed  and  still  claims  to  have  assured  this  inde- 
pendence. The  odium  thcologicum  is  so  insidious  a bias,  it  is  so  hard 
where  this  may  enter  to  represent  fairly  your  adversary’s  contention, 
that  I prefer  to  set  forth  the  purport  of  this  statute  in  the  language  of 
one  who  aided  in  its  enactment  and  wrote  to  persuade  his  readers  that 
the  Holy  See  had  no  reasonable  ground  for  complaint  respecting  it. 

‘ ‘ The  person  of  the  Pope,  ’ ’ he  says,  ‘ ‘ is  declared  as  sacred  and 
inviolable  as  that  of  the  king;  to  assault,  incite  to  assault,  insult,  or  use 
contumelious  language  regarding  him,  whether  the  offence  consist  in 
act,  word,  or  any  form  of  publication,  are  crimes  to  be  punished  pre- 
cisely as  if  they  affected  the  king.  Sovereign  honors  are  to  be  every- 
where rendered  to  the  pontiff,  his  palaces  and  person  are  to  be  guarded 
by  his  own  guards.  The  apostolic  palaces  of  the  Vatican  and  Lateran 
and  Villa  of  Castel  Gandolfo  are  exempted  from  taxation  and  cannot 
be  taken  under  the  right  of  eminent  domain.  During  a vacancy  in 
the  Holy  See  the  personal  liberty  of  the  cardinals  shall  be  absolute, 
and  the  government  warrants  the  security  and  freedom  of  conclaves 
and  ecumenical  councils,  and  neither  the  places  where  these  are 
held  nor  any  building  containing  the  Pope,  whether  his  stay  be  per- 
manent or  transient,  can  be  entered  by  the  police  or  other  public 
force,  unless  at  the  request  of  the  Pope,  council,  or  conclave.  The 
archives  of  the  pontifical  congregations  or  ministries  are  exempted 
from  inspection,  perquisition,  or  sequestration.  The  sovereign  pon- 
tiff may  attach  ordinances  to  the  doors  of  basilicas  and  other 
churches,  and  neither  the  police  nor  any  one  else  can  remove  these. 


3i 

Those  ecclesiastics  who  are  employed  by  him  in  his  spiritual  admin- 
istration cannot  be  called  to  account  for  anything  they  may  do  or 
say  in  that  capacity,  whether  they  are  Italian  subjects  or  foreigners. 
Foreign  ministers  accredited  to  the  Holy  Father  and  his  agents 
accredited  to  foreign  governments  are  to  be  accorded  the  full  diplo- 
matic privileges.  The  Pope  has  a special  postal  and  telegraphic 
service;  he  pays  nothing  for  telegrams  which  he  sends  or  receives, 
and  minute  precautions  are  taken  to  assure  the  secrecy  of  his  corre- 
spondence. Seminaries,  academies,  colleges,  and  other  Catholic  insti- 
tutions intended  for  the  education  of  ecclesiastics  in  the  city  of 
Rome  and  the  six  suffragan  dioceses  continue  under  the  exclusive 
control  of  the  Holy  See,  without  any  interference  from  the  minister 
of  public  instruction.  Finally  a perpetual  and  inalienable  endow- 
ment of  3,250,000  francs  annually  is  inscribed  upon  the  great  book 
of  the  public  debt  in  favor  of  the  Holy  Father.” 

I have  used  (with  some  freedom  in  translation  and  compression  of 
statement)  the  words  of  this  writer,  not  because  he  construes  the 
‘‘Law  of  Guarantees”  as  I should  construe  it,  nor,  if  my  information 
be  correct,  as  it  has  since  been  construed  by  either  Italian  ministers 
or  Italian  courts,  but  because,  if  he  errs,  he  certainly  errs  in  the 
law’s  favor.  Taking  his  statement  as  true,  admitting  that  the  law 
has  the  scope  and  efficacy  he  claims  for  it,  and  that  it  has  been  or  is 
likely  to  be  so  administered  as  to  best  promote  its  alleged  purpose, 
could  this  law,  or  any  measure  on  the  model  or  of  the  order  of  this 
law,  satisfy  public  opinion  among  Catholic  laymen  throughout  the 
world  ? If  any  great  personages,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  without  the 
church  or  within,  either  openly  or  secretly  caress  the  thought  that 
the  time  has  come  or  will  ever  come  when  this  question  may  be  an- 
swered in  the  affirmative,  I tell  them  to  lay  aside  these  day-dreams; 
Catholics  will  never  accept  this  law,  or  any  law  of  an  Italian  parlia- 
ment, as  assuring  the  independence  of  the  Holy  See.  A law  is  the 
act  of  a sovereign  affecting  those  who  are  his  subjects,  or  at  least, 
under  his  legitimate  dominion;  that  a national  parliament  should 
pretend  to  legislate  regarding  the  Holy  See  involves  a denial  of  its 
independence.  The  writer  from  whom  I have  already  quoted  admits 
this.  Replying  to  the  objection  that  the  ‘‘Law  of  Guarantees”  had 
failed  of  its  object,  because  it  had  not  been  accepted  by  the  Pope, 
he  says: 

‘‘What  need  that  he  should  accept  it  ? Was  it  an  offer,  a propo- 
sition, a project  of  treaty  ? Since  when  have  the  laws  of  a sov- 
ereign state  required  acceptance  by  those  whom  they  concern  ? True, 
the  law  affected  the  Pope,  and  even  accorded  him  some  privileges 
of  a sovereign  within  the  state.  But  these  privileges  were  accorded 
him  whether  or  not  he  was  satisfied  with  them,  whether  or  not  he 
saw  fit  to  renounce  his  temporal  power  or  to  retain  it  in  theory  and 
his  idea  of  his  rights.” 

There  was  indeed,  no  need  that  the  Pope  should  accept  the  law 
to  make  it  binding  on  every  subject  of  the  Italian  crown;  if  we 
admit  that  he  is  such  a subject,  then  the  laws  of  the  Italian  parlia- 
ment bind  him  as  much  if  he  disapprove  as  if  he  approve  them,  but 
in  this  admission  is  contained  what  Catholics  do  not,  and  can  and 
will  never  admit.  The  matter  of  the  law  goes  for  nothing;  we  do 
not  ask  for  him  honors  or  rank,  least  of  all,  money,  but  freedom;  we 
demand,  not  that  he  be  granted  privileges  as  though  he  were  a sov- 
ereign, but  that,  since  he  is  and  always  must  be  a sovereign,  his 
existing  rights  as  a sovereign  be  respected.  It  is  not  for  a parlia- 
ment of  3^esterday  to  confer  a patent  of  honorary  precedence  on  the 
successor  of  the  fisherman;  pomp  and  external  deference,  wealth  and 
even  personal  security  have  been  always  those  things  wherewith  the 
Roman  pontiffs  could  the  most  readily  dispense.  Nothing  during 
the  most  eventful  period  of  their  marvelous  history  is  more  striking 
than  the  contrast  between  their  immense  strength  as  rulers  of  the 
church  and  their  little  strength  as  rulers  of  Rome.  At  the  very 
time  when  monarchs  came  down  from  their  thrones  at  his  bidding, 
the  Pope  had  not  sufficient  public  force  at  his  command  to  disperse 
a mob  in  the  streets  of  his  capital  or  secure  his  palace  from  intru- 
sion, and  while  the  most  powerful  princes  vied  to  hold  his  stirrup  or 
lead  hfs  palfrey  he  was  subjected  in  his  own  city  to  the  grossest 
insults,  often  to  the  most  shameful  violence,  from  vulgar  demagogues 
or  factious  nobles.  Crescentius,  Arnold  of  Brescia,  Rienzi,  Stephen 
Porcaro,  were  but  a few  of  the  numerous  leaders  of  sedition  who, 
for  the  most  part,  might  have  defied  with  impunity  the  papal  author- 
ity had  it  not  been  sustained  by  the  imperial  arms.  The  claims  of 
the  Holy  See  to  its  temporal  domain  might  be  sustained  by  gifts 
from  the  Countess  Matilda  or  Lewis  I or  Charlemagne  or  Pepin  or, 
perhaps,  even  Constantine,  Hut,  as  an  eminent  living  historian  has 
said,  ‘ ‘The  Pope  had  been  * * * the  victim,  not  the  lord,  of  the 

neighboring  barons,”  until,  at  the  very  end  of  the  middle  ages, 
these  claims  were  at  last  enforced  by  the  sword  of  Caesar  Borgia. 


32 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


A writer  whose  ability  and  whose  hostility  to  the  Catholic  relig- 
ion are  equally  conspicuous  has  said  that  when  Catholics  demand 
“liberty”  for  the  church,  they  mean  to  ask  for  “power,”  just  as 
Clarendon  pronounced  the  king  of  England,  “as  free  and  absolute” 
as  any  other  monarch.  Unquestionably  liberty  implies  power. 

“No  man  is  free  who  is  not  master  of  himself,  ” and,  in  civilized 
society,  at  least,  no  man  is  master  of  himself  who  is  not,  in  some 
sense,  a master  of  others.  But  while  the  Pope’s  power  as  a temporal 
ruler,  or  rather  his  right  to  such  power,  is  proven  by  the  teaching  of 
history  vital  to  his  liberty  as  “free  and  absolute”  head  of  the  church, 
the  practical  realization  of  this  power  is  shown  equally  clearly  to  be 
of  little  moment.  It  was  of  vast  importance  that  he  be  held  by 
Christendom  the  legitimate  sovereign  of  his  domicile;  it  mattered 
little  that  violence  from  within  or  without  might  deprive  him  for  the 
time  being  of  his  lawful  dominion.  Every  pope,  to  be  true  to  the 
church  and  his  great  office,  must  inflexibly  assert  that  no  living  man 
was  his  rightful  superior,  but  it  was  nothing  or  very  little  that  he 
who  clung  to  these  lofty  pretensions  should  be  besieged  in  St. 
Angelo  by  the  Roman  rabble  or  a prisoner  in  the  hands  of  some  re- 
bellious nobleman.  The  extent  and  the  form  of  his  power  has 
changed  often  with  the  changeful  ages,  but  his  liberty  must  be  for- 
ever the  same,  for  it  must  be  forever  “absolute.” 

It  is  a less  decisive  but  very  grave  objection  to  the  “ Law  of 
Guarantees”  as  a modus  vivendi  that  acceptance  of  the  position  it 
creates  for  him  would  make  the  Pope  ex  necessitate  rei  not  only  a 
stipendiary  of  the  Italian  crown,  but  the  leader  of  an  Italian  party. 
What  one  parliament  can  do  another  can  undo,  w'hat  one  has  granted 
another  may  take  away.  A party  already  exists  in  Italy  openly  and 
bitterly  hostile  to  the  Holy  See,  to  the  church,  to  religion  in  any 
form;  if  he  admits  that  his  liberty  depends  on  the  law,  then,  to  pro- 
tect himself  against  changes  in  the  law,  he  must  use  his  only  effect- 
ive weapon — political  agitation.  In  this  connection  it  is  well  to 
recall,  what  seems  sometimes  forgotten  in  argument,  that  no  canon 
of  the  church  requires  St.  Peter’s  successor  to  be  found  among 
natives  of  the  land  where  he  was  done  to  death.  The  conclave  is 
limited  to  no  race  or  nation  in  their  choice;  to  practically  limit  them 
by  assigning  to  the  papacy  functions  which  only  an  Italian  could 
assume  consistently  with  self-respect  or  discharge  with  efficiency 
would  be  at  least  a dangerous  innovation. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  more  important  provisions  of 
the  “Eaw  of  Guarantees”  might  be  embodied  in  a treaty  between  all 
the  great  powers,  and  thus  obtain  an  international  sanction.  I think 
this  suggestion  looks  in  the  right  direction.  One  day  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Holy  See  may  perhaps  be  warranted  by  diplomacy, 
but  when  it  affords  a solution  for  this  great  problem,  diplomacy  will 
be  the  mouth-piece  of  a practically  unanimous  public  opinion 
throughout  the  Catholic,  I may  say,  the  whole  Christian  world;  a 
public  opinion  which  Italians  will  respect,  not  so  much  because  they 
fear,  as  because  they  share  it.  A real  solution  will  never  be  found 
in  bargains  between  kings  and  cabinets,  nor  in  the  accidents  of  wars 
or  revolutions.  The  ultimate  sanction  for  the  liberty  of  the  Holy 
See  must  be  neither  military  force  nor  the  words  of  compacts,  how- 
ever solemn,  but  the  universal  conviction  among  good  men  of  all 
countries,  that  to  violate  it  would  be  to  wrong  mankind. 

If  I am  asked  to  point  out  how  the  independence  of  the 
Holy  See  can  be  adjusted  to  the  changed  conditions  of  Europe,  and 
especially  of  Italy,  or  what  form  or  extent  of  administrative  author- 
ity it  must  exercise  to  secure  that  independence,  or  by  what  prac- 
tical measures  the  desired  end  can  be  obtained,  I decline  the  task. 
Non  nobis  tantas  componere  lites. 

Only  those  who  cannot,  or  will  not,  look  at  all  aspects  of  the 
existing  situation  can  be  confident  in  their  ability  to  deal  with  it  ; 
and  I believe  that  no  one  can  contemplate  the  past  of  the  papacy 
without  feeling  that  it  savors  Of  presumption  to  forecast  its  future. 
To  those  who  witnessed  successive  phases  of  its  mighty  conflict 
with  the  empire,  a widely  different  outcome  to  that  conflict  must 
have  often  seemed  not  probable,  merely,  but  an  accomplished  fact. 
Gregory  VII  said,  almost  with  his  last  breath  : “I  have  ever  loved 
justice  and  hated  iniquity,  therefore  I die  forsaken  and  in  exile,” 
yet  the  complete  triumph  of  his  cause  awaited  only  the  fulness  of 
time.  In  these  great  questions  God’s  ways  are  not  as  our  ways  ; we 
may  not  live  to  see  them  answered,  but  we  know  that  in  His  good 
season  the  answer  will  of  a certainty  come.  Let  us  await  it  with 
the  patience  of  absolute  confidence;  we  are  sure  that  the  milk-white 
hind,  so  often  doomed  to  death,  is  yet  fated  not  to  die.  Neverthe- 
less, we  are  not  to  be  passive  spectators;  in  this  great  drama  we 
have  our  humble  part.  Crude  projects,  petulant  complaints,  sweep- 
ing and  uncharitable  denunciations  may  embarrass  the  Holy  Father, 
they  cannot  strengthen  his  hands;  but  we  owe  him  in  his  trials  a 


heartfelt  expression  of  our  loyal  sympathy.  Catholics  do  less  than 
their  duty  if  they  fail  to  say,  and  to  say  so  loudly  and  plainly  that 
no  one  can  even  pretend  to  mistake  their  meaning,  that  the  Holy 
See  has  been  and  is  gravely  wronged;  that  against  this  wrong  they 
temperately  but  firmly  protest,  and  will  protest  so  long  as  it  remains 
unrighted;  that  while  the  freedom  of  the  Holy  See  is  in  jeopardy 
the  church  is  not  at  peace;  and  that  the  sovereign  pontiff  in  vindi- 
cating this  freedom,  not  as  a privilege  to  be  given  or  withheld  by 
any  earthly  power,  but  as  an  inalienable  right  embraced  in  his  di- 
vine commission,  has  and  will  ever  have  the  unwavering  support  of 
all  his  spiritual  children.  And  for  the  Catholics  of  America  I say 
this  now  and  here. 

Mr.Onaiian  : 1 ‘Before  moving  the  adjournment  of  the  congress, 
which  is  rendered  necessary  at  this  time  by  reason  of  preparations 
that  are  necessary  to  be  made  in  this  hall  for  the  reception  to-night, 
I desire,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  there  shall  go  on  the  records  of  this  con- 
vention a vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Bonaparte,  for  the  masterpiece  he 
has  just  submitted  to  us,  and  also  to  Mr.  Shea  and  Mr.  Brownson 
for  their  papers.  ’ ’ The  question  was  put  and  the  motion  was  carried, 
and  at  4:30  p.  m.  the  congress  adjourned. 

SECOND  DAY. 

The  proceedings  of  the  day  were  begun  with  prayer  by  the  Most 
Rev.  Archbishop  Lafleche,  of  Three  Rivers,  Can. 

The  chairman  then  said  : “ Before  proceeding  with  the  business 
of  the  congress,  I wish  to  make  a short  announcement.  It  seems  that 
yesterday  in  the  hurry  of  forming  the  committees,  it  would  appear 
that  certain  sections  of  the  country  were  omitted  from  the  list.  The 
chair  wishes  to  state  what  gentlemen  of  the  congress  already  know, 
that  this  convention  must  differ  materially  in  every  way  from  a 
political  convention,  and  one  of  the  greatest  points  of  difference  is 
that  before  we  arrived  here  the  names  of  the  delegates  and  those  who 
were  to  be  present  were  entirely  unknown  to  the  temporary  officers 
of  this  body.  Therefore  it  was  impossible  for  us  to  form  the  com- 
mittees with  that  pains  and  care  which  certainly  would  have  been 
followed  had  we  known  of  the  presence  of  the  gentlemen  in  question. 

I wish  to  say  from  the  chair,  and  also  on  the  part  of  the  gentlemen 
who  formed  the  temporary  organization,  that  there  was  not  the 
slightest  intention  to  exclude  any  section  of  the  country  from  the 
list  of  committees,  or  with  respect  to  the  officers  of  this  convention. 
On  the  contrary,  we  were  only  too  glad  to  welcome  them  all  (ap- 
plause); and  I wish  further  to  state  that  any  section  of  this  country 
that  has  felt  itself  ignored  in  the  matter  of  committees,  or  in  regard 
to  the  vice-presidents  or  secretaries  of  this  body,  if  they  will  kindly 
send  up  their  names,  the  same  shall  be  entered  upon  the  permanent 
record  which  shall  be  published  in  full,  of  the  proceedings  of  this 
congress.”  (Applause.) 

Mr.  M.  D.  Fanseer,  of  Logansport,  Ind. : “ I move  that  a 
committee  be  now  appointed  by  the  chair,  to  consider  and  report 
upon  the  propriety  and  expediency  of  holding  assemblages  of  the 
Catholic  laity  in  every  state  in  this  Union  annually.” 

Mr.  M.  J.  McHugh,  of  Michigan:  “ I second  the  motion.” 

Tiie  Chairman:  “Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  motion. 
Will  the  gentlemen  kindly  put  his  motion  in  tire  form  of  a resolu- 
tion, and  it  will  be  referred  to  the  committee  on  resolutions,  under 
the  rules.  The  unfinished  business  will  now  be  the  order  of  the  day, 
unless  otherwise  ordered.  The  unfinished  business  is  the  reading  of  the 
papers,  and  I now  have  the  great  honor  of  introducing  to  you  the 
Hon.  Honore  Mercier,  Prime  Minister  of  Quebec,  who  will  read  a 
paper  which  he  has  prepared  for  this  congress.”  (Great  applause.) 

CARROLL  AS  A STATESMAN. 

PAPER  READ  BY  HON.  HONORE  MERCIER,  OF  QUEBEC. 

I consider  myself  particularly  honored  in  being  called  upon  to 
speak  on  an  occasion  which  has  brought  together  so  many  illustrious 
men.  We  have  assembled  in  this  historic  city  to  do  honor  to  a great 
prelate,  men  distinguished  in  every  walk  of  life,  whose  names  are 
honored  throughout  the  civilized  world,  great  churchmen  and  great 


) 

V 


Honoris  Mercier. 

Quebec,  Can. 


William  L.  Kelly, 

St.  Paul,  Minn. 


34 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


statesmen,  whose  wisdom  in  governing  a mighty  people  is  unequalled, 
warriors  whose  renown  will  go  down  to  posterity,  speakers  and 
writers  whose  words  are  treasured  up  far  beyond  the  confines  of  their 
own  country,  all  alike  eminent  in  their  several  spheres,  many  of  them 
coming  from  foreign  lands,  but  united  together  by  the  bonds  of  their 
own  genius  and  by  their  admiration  for  a great  cause  and  a great 
name.  (Applause.) 

That  I should  be  so  honored  as  to  be  invited  to  say  a few  words 
in  such  a concourse  I regard  as  an  honor  paid,  not  to  myself  but  to 
the  neighboring  country  from  which  I come  (applause),  and  especially 
to  the  Province  of  Quebec,  which  I represent. 

It  will  not,  therefore,  seem  strange  to  you,  that  appearing  as  I 
do  for  a great  province  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  a province  vast 
in  the  extent  of  its  fertile  land  and  destined  to  support  a population 
greater  than  some  of  the  largest  of  European  kingdoms,  I should 
regard  the  career  of  Archbishop  Carroll  (applause)  in  his  relations  to 
the  state  rather  than  in  his  relations  to  the  church.  (Applause.) 

Archbishop  Carroll  was,  indeed,  a great  churchman;  he  was 
also  a great  statesman. 

His  labors  for  the  church  which  he  loved,  and  their  fruits,  which 
have  been  told  to  you  in  magnificent  language;  the  church  which 
he  erected  on  the  free  soil  of  America  is  to-day  one  of  the  greatest 
churches  in  the  world,  counting  its  members  by  millions,  breathing 
the  air  of  freedom  to  its  fullest  extent,  and  teaching  by  precept  and 
example  that  nowhere  is  God’s  work  better  done  and  man’s  happi- 
ness better  secured  than  where  liberty,  grand  and  universal  liberty, 
is  most  respected.  (Applause.) 

Freedom  and  authority,  law  and  order,  the  duties  of  the  citizen 
as  well  as  his  rights,  that  the  fullest  liberty  can  exist  without  license, 
that  liberty  brings  order  and  not  disorder,  that  the  duty  of  govern- 
ment is  to  foster  liberty  and  not  restrain  it,  that  well  ordered  liberty 
is  the  surest  pillar  of  authority;  these  were  the  lessons  that  your 
fathers  taught  and  sealed  with  their  blood.  (Applause.) 

To  support  them  in  their  magnificent  conception  of  self-govern- 
ment they  had  no  stauncher  ally,  no  more  powerful  friend  than  the 
great  Archbishop  Carroll.  (Applause.) 

These  indeed  were  perilous  times!  The  fate  of  liberty,  the  fate 
of  humanity  were  held  in  the  balance!  Had  Washington  (applause), 
Franklin,  Carroll,  and  their  illustrious  brethren  failed  in  the  work 
which  God  had  laid  out  for  them,  it  would  have  been  a dire  calam- 
ity to  humanity  itself ! (Applause.) 

In  Europe  absolutism  had  triumphed;  wars  of  religion,  dynas- 
tic wars,  wars  of  conquest  and  ambition  had  crushed  popular  aspira- 
tions and  popular  rights.  Italy  was  divided  among  a few  princely 
houses;  German  sovereigns  sold  their  subjects  to  fight  in  the  quar- 
rels of  neighboring  states;  Russia  was  yet  steeped  in  barbarism; 
northern  Europe  was  governed  by  a hand  of  iron ; in  ever}'  state  kingly 
power  was  supreme,  unfettered  by  law,  unrestrained  by  opinion. 

In  France  itself  it  was  only  certain  classes  which  seemed  to 
think  of  the  duties  of  power  and  the  rights  of  subjects,  and  these 
thinkers  unfortunately  were  inspired  by  theoretical  ideas,  and,  alash 
in  too  many  cases  by  irreligious  principles,  ideas  and  principles  not 
founded  on  real  life  and  experience,  taking  man  not  in  his  nature  as 
he  was,  but  with  imaginary  qualities  and  imaginary  faculties,  a 
man  of  their  own  conception  and  creation,  and  founding  thereon  the- 
ories of  government  which  were  to  end  in  the  fearful  cataclysm  ot 
the  French  revolution.  (Applause.) 

In  England  there  was  indeed  a struggle  founded  upon  truer 
principles,  but  it  was  rather  a faint  struggle  among  higher  classes 
against  kingly  prerogative  than  of  the  people  for  popular  rights.  The 
house  of  commons  was  not  a popular  representative  body;  it  was 
formed  and  ruled  by  the  privileged  orders,  the  nobility,  and  the 
landed  gentry;  the  penal  laws  were  still  in  force,  the  right  of  popu- 
lar assembly  was  denied,  combinations  of  laborers  and  tradesmen 
were  severely  repressed,  the  right  to  vote  was  restricted  to  a small 
minority  of  the  population,  and  it  was  a half  a century  afterwards, 
and  more,  before  the  house  of  commons  was  to  be  transferred  into 
a popular  assembly,  and,  following  the  example  of  America,  the 
government  was  to  become  the  government  of  the  masses  and  not  of 
the  classes. 

Even  the  statesmen  who  then  in  the  house  of  commons  con- 
tended for  a small  measure  of  popular  rights  were  inspired  mainly 
by  their  own  interests,  and  would  have  imposed  upon  America 
laws  and  burdens  which  they  rejected  for  themselves.  If  George 
III  desired  to  govern  America  by  autocratic  decrees,  he  had  in  the 
ministry  and  commons  of  England  a powerful  majority  to  support 
him  in  the  methods  and  measures  of  tyranny. 

It  was  indeed  a great  crisis  for  America  and  the  world!  Had 
the  ideas  which  then  inspired  kings,  statesmen,  and  legislators  of 


the  old  world  prevailed  in  the  new,  had  your  forefathers  misunder- 
stood their  duty,  had  they  faltered  in  its  performance,  tyranny,  like 
a pall,  would  have  spread  over  the  world;  and  not  America  alone, 
but  Europe  and  the  civilized  world  would  to-day  be  struggling  to 
break  the  chains,  to  rise  out  of  the  slough  of  despondency  to  see  the 
Sun  of  Freedom,  which  on  this  day,  because  of  their  heroism 
illumines  your  continent  and  sheds  its  rays  wide  and  far,  beyond 
the  oceans  which  encompass  your  land.  (Applause.) 

In  that  grand  and  glorious  work  Archbishop  Carroll  had  no 
small  share.  (Applause.)  His  mind  was  not  warped  by  old-time 
beliefs  and  traditions;  broad  and  expansive,  his  genius  understood 
that  man’s  intellect  and  will,  being  free  in  conception  and  exercise, 
and  that  the  only  restraint  to  be  put  upon  them  was  that  imposed 
by  God's  law  and  required  by  the  condition  of  man,  living  in  com- 
munity with  his  fellow-men,  where  all  would  be  free  to  act  in  the 
pursuit  of  happiness,  limited  only  by  the  rights  of  others. 

Such  were  the  ideas  held  by  Carroll  and  the  illustrious  founders 
of  your  constitution.  Your  Declaration  of  Independence  (applause) 
was  a revelation  to  mankind.  Acknowledging  that  the  rights  which 
it  proclaimed  came  from  God,  as  the  source  of  all  government  and 
of  all  authority,  it  laid  down  in  no  uncertain  language  the  principles 
upon  which  the  greatest  amount  of  liberty  should  be  exercised  by 
the  people  with  the  amplest  guaranties  lor  order,  peace,  and  security 
of  life  and  property. 

Perhaps  no  man  in  that  day  did  more  for  the  American  cause 
than  Franklin,  and  Franklin  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Carroll;  in 
America,  in  England,  in  France,  Franklin,  by  voice  and  pen,  was 
one  of  the  noblest  champions  of  the  rights  of  your  country;  his  diplo- 
matic skill  was  such  that  he  met  and  overcame  the  trained  statesmen 
of  Europe,  and  his  genius  grasped  with  unerring  judgment  the 
true  principles  of  government;  how  far  the  sound  learning  of  Arch- 
bishop Carroll,  his  logical  mind,  his  sense  of  justice  contributed  to 
instill  into  the  mind  of  Franklin  and  his  contemporaries  those  true 
and  grand  principles  no  pen  can  tell;  but  we  have  it  proven  that  he 
was  the  trusted  counsellor  of  the  fathers  of  your  country,  and  if  his 
brother  Charles,  in  signing  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  risked 
in  the  service  of  his  country  his  immense  possessions,  no  less 
generous  was  the  great  archbishop  in  devoting  his  great  talents, 
his  immense  influence  and  ceaseless  labor  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen.  (Applause.) 

To  members  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  it  was  in  truth  a 
dispensation  of  Providence,  that  Archbishop  Carroll  did  in  that  day 
such  good  service  for  his  country;  and  that  his  influence  was  com- 
mensurate with  his  services;  and  I might  add,  equally  providential 
was  it  for  all  creeds  and  faiths  in  America  that  his  voice  was  heard. 

These  were  still  days  of  religious  persecution;  the  hatreds 
roused  in  Europe  by  long  years  of  religious  dissensions  and  warfare 
were  not  yet  allayed;  the  statutes  of  every  country  yet  contained 
laws  directed  against  the  liberty  of  worship;  men  who  denied  infal- 
libility to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  claimed  for  themselves  the 
right  to  control  the  faith  of  others,  and  the  world  saw  the  strange 
spectacle  of  governments,  founded  for  temporal  purposes,  making 
laws  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  people;  not  daring  to  claim  that 
they  were  inspired  by  God,  yet  promulgating  doctrines  and  creeds 
denying  to  others  the  privilege  of  doing  as  they  were  doing  them- 
selves in  foiming  their  own  systems  of  religious  worship. 

America  was  not  yet  free  from  these  prejudices,  and  before  Car- 
roll’s influence  had  been  felt,  before  his  genius  had  imprinted  upon 
the  public  acts  of  his  countrymen  the  stamp  of  his  liberality,  the 
congress  of  Philadelphia  protested  against  the  Quebec  act  passed  by 
the  house  of  commons  of  England,  which  granted  freedom  of  wor- 
ship to  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Canada. 

This  imprudent  protest  was  not  without  its  effect  upon  the 
struggle  for  American  independence,  and  upon  Archbishop  Carroll 
himself;  when  he,  with  Franklin,  Chase,  and  Charles  Carroll,  was 
deputed  to  Canada  to  arouse  the  sympathies  of  its  people  in  favor  of 
the  revolted  colonies,  they  found  everywhere  that  this  protest  of  the 
Philadelphia  congress  had  indisposed  the  people;  and  the  French 
Canadians  remained  neutral  in  the  struggle — there  being  onlyonehun- 
dred  and  fifty  in  Burgoyne’s  army — and  did  not  join,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  in  a war  which  was  to  be  so  fatal  to  their  hereditary 
enemies.  (Applause.) 

But  this  mistake  was  nobly  repaired;  when  the  time  came  to 
affirm  true  principles,  to  lay  down  the  foundations  of  your  govern- 
ment, the  broadest,  the  largest  liberty  was  proclaimed,  and  to-day  we 
see  in  your  republic  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  sincere  men,  differ- 
ing in  religious  belief  and  practice,  united  as  brethren  in  their  love 
of  country,  in  their  devotion  to  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  (Applause.) 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


35 


In  no  cause  was  Archbishop  Carroll  more  zealous  than  in  the 
cause  of  education.  True,  knowledge  in  itself  will  not  elevate  man- 
kind above  the  frailties  and  passions  of  humanity,  but  knowledge 
will  tend  to  make  him  more  refined,  more  intelligent,  more  capable 
of  knowing  his  duties  and  rights  as  well  as  the  duties  and  rights  of 
others.  If  to  knowledge  be  joined  virtue  and  religion,  we  will  have 
quite  a perfect  man;  a man  in  whom  all  the  faculties,  moral  and 
intellectual,  have  been  cultivated.  In  him  shall  we  find  the  good 
citizen,  the  brave  soldier,  the  honest  statesman;  under  no  form  of 
government  are  virtue  and  intelligence  more  necessary  than  under 
the  republican;  there  the  citizen  becomes  a statesman,  for  to  his 
judgment  is  submitted,  as  a final  issue,  the  decision  of  all  ques- 
tions of  government;  by  his  vote  he  participates  in  legislation,  and 
as  he  will  have  understood  his  duty  and  performed  it,  so  will  the 
government  be,  which  he  and  his  fellow-citizens  will  have  given  to 
the  commonwealth.  (Applause.) 

No  grander  service  could  be  rendered  to  your  country  than  that 
which  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  rendering  to  the  United  States 
on  this  auspicious  occasion  in  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations 
of  a grand  Catholic  university;  no  greater  monument  could  be 
erected  to  the  memory  of  Archbishop  Carroll,  no  more  splendid  cel- 
ebration of  his  centenary  could  be  imagined. 

In  the  city  hallowed  by  the  name  of  Washington  (applause), 
in  the  capital  of  the  freest  people  on  earth  (applause),  where  the 
interests  of  sixty-five  millions  of  people,  of  hundred  millions  of 
people,  are  to  be  decided  by  the  wisest  and  best  of  your  land,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  in  this  year  of  grace,  makes  to  your 
country  the  magnificent  gift  of  a great  university,  where  science 
and  art,  where  religion  and  morality  will  ever  find  a home,  and 
where  your  people  will  learn  the  grand  lesson  that  loyalty  to  God 
means  lo37alty  to  the  state.  (Applause.) 

As  in  old  Catholic  times,  the  church  had  established  in  England 
and  France,  Germany  and  Italy,  universities  where  the  students 
were  counted  by  thousands,  and  where  all  the  science  of  the  times 
was  taught  by  the  most  learned  and  most  skilful  of  professors  that 
the  age  produced,  so  here  in  the  nineteenth  century,  in  free  America 
(applause),  the  church  continues  her  old  policy,  ever  the  same,  of 
cultivating  in  mankind  the  highest  faculties  in  their  grandest  devel- 
opment, and  gives  to  the  students  of  America  a seat  of  learning 
where  the  work  of  your  colleges  will  be  completed,  where  will  be 
prepared  for  the  future  the  men  who,  in  the  professions,  in  public 
life  and  private  life,  in  pulpit  and  senate,  in  conjunction  with  hon- 
orable and  honest  men  of  other  creeds,  are  to  form  the  public 
opinion  of  your  country,  who  are  to  educate  your  fellow-country- 
men in  the  highest  and  noblest  principles  of  freedom,  equality,  and 
justice. 

We,  on  our  part,  in  our  province  of  Quebec,  are  determined  to 
be  guided  in  public  matters  by  justice;  we  believe  in  justice  pure 
and  undefiled;  justice  on  all  occasions  and  under  all  conditions; 
justice  with  all  its  responsibilities  and  all  its  consequences;  justice 
not  simply  for  the  present  and  the  future,  but  justice  for  the  past; 
and  where  its  precepts  have  been  overlooked  and  forgotten,  we 
believe  in  going  back  and  repairing  injuries  done,  and  discharging 
debts  unpaid;  we  understand  justice  as  St.  Thomas  understood  it: 
Virtus  moralis  disponens  voluntatem  ad  perpetuo  utiicuique  redden- 
dum jus  suum  secundum  cequalitatem:  “A  moral  virtue  disposing 
the  will  always  to  render  toothers  their  rights  according  to  equity.” 
(Applause.)  . 

Thus  when  the  Protestant  minority  of  lower  Canada  demanded 
the  right  of  educating  their  children  in  their  own  schools,  according 
to  their  methods  and  religious  ideas,  and  with  their  own  taxes,  the 
French  Canadians  and  Roman  Catholic  people,  my  own  country- 
men, I am  proud  to  say,  hesitated  not  one  moment  (applause),  but 
fully  and  freely  granted  unto  the  Protestant  minority  their  separate 
schools  and  the  absolute  right  of  governing  them,  as  in  their 
opinion  it  might  seem  best  for  them,  for  the  moral  and  religious 
welfare  of  the  Protestant  population  of  the  country.  (Applause.) 

In  the  same  spirit,  with  ho  intention  of  undue  favoritism,  with 
no  notion  of  overriding  the  rights  of  others,  but  for  justice’s  sake  and 
justice  alone,  unicuique  reddendum  jus  suum  secundum  cequalitatem, 
we  gave  back  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  through  the  order  of 
the  Jesuits,  the  property  of  which  they  had  been  despoiled  by  the 
same  George  III,  who  would  have  despoiled  your  fathers  of  their 
liberties  and  rights. 

The  Jesuits’  estates  had  been  taken  from  the  order,  no  compen- 
sation had  been  given  in  return;  we  therefore  considered  that  we  had 
no  true  right,  no  moral  right,  to  retain  possession  of  these  estates; 
true,  the  law  was  there,  we  had  a legal  right  to  sustain  us,  no  court 
could  have  forced  us  to  return  the  property;  but  there  is  a law,  a 


higher  law  flowing  from  nature,  and  nature’s  God,  which  told  us 
that  we  had  no  moral  right  to  these  estates;  our  title  before  the 
courts  might  be  good,  but  was  it  good  before  the  supreme  law  of 
equity?  We  thought  not;  we  disdained  to  accept  the  doctrine  of 
fails  accomplis , we  considered  ourselves  released  by  no  statute  of 
limitation,  by  no  prescription;  finding  we  had  no  claim  before  God, 
we  would  not  avail  ourselves  of  our  claim  before  man,  and  of  our 
own  free  will  we  made  an  act  of  restitution  of  which  we  are  proud, 
and  which  I am  confident  history  will  not  condemn.  (Continued 
applause.) 

We  in  Canada  have  done  much  for  education;  we  are  proud  of 
our  colleges  and  our  universities;  when  in  years  gone  by,  you  had 
not  the  facilities  which  you  now  possess,  how  many  of  your  young 
men  sought  in  Canada  the  blessings  of  a Christian  education!  How 
many  priests  and  laymen  have  been  sent  forth  among  3-011  by  the 
Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice;  how  many7  have  left  the  halls  of  St. 
Mary’s  College,  at  Montreal,  to  spread  among  your  people  the 
blessed  knowledge  which  they7  had  acquired  in  my  Canadian  home, 
in  my  Alma  Mater , with  which  so  many  dear  associations  are  en- 
twined in  my  heart!  And  if  we  cannot  hope  to  found  in  our  northern 
clime  such  a university  as  you  are  now  establishing,  we  can  boast 
that  many  3rears  ago,  as  far  back  as  1852,  our  bishops  and  our  states- 
men had  built  in  the  grand  old  city  of  Quebec,  the  Faval  Uni- 
versity,- which  has  done  and  is  doing  in  our  midst  a work  by  which 
we  all  profit  and  of  which  we  are  all  proud.  (Applause.) 

As  our  colleges  have  in  time  past  fulty  and  generousty  given  to 
your  people  the  benefits  of  education,  let  me  express  the  hope  that 
you  will  be  equally  generous,  and  that  in  the  annals  of  the  University 
of  Washington,  Canadians  will  not  be  strangers;  and  that  as  pupils 
and  professors  they7  will  ever  find  a ready  welcome,  and  that  the 
two  peoples,  united  by  so  many  ties  already,  may  find  a still  closer 
bond  of  union,  in  seeing  their  children  studying  the  same  sciences, 
in  the  same  halls,  under  the  same  masters,  for  the  love  of  God  and 
for  the  love  of  country. 

Among  the  many  beautiful  poems  with  which  he  has  enriched 
your  literature,  your  great  poet,  Longfellow,  has  produced  one 
which  seems  to  me  most  appropriate  on  this  occasion.  He  applies 
his  address  to  the  ship  of  the  state;  I would  extend  its  meaning 
and  apply  it  to  3rour  university  likewise.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
prosperity  of  your  university  is  so  bound  up  with  the  prosperity  of 
y7our  glorious  Union,  that  y7our  love  of  countty  is  so  mingled  with 
your  love  of  religion,  that  the  prayer  uttered  for  the  one  must  of 
necessity  apply  to  the  other. 

And  to  your  country  as  well  as  to  y7our  university,  to  their 
union,  I would  say7: 

Sail  on,  O Union,  strong  and  great! 

Humanity  with  all  its  fears, 

With  all  its  hopes  of  future  years, 

Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  fate! 

We  know  what  master  laid  thy  keel, 

What  workmen  wrought  thy'  ribs  of  steel, 

Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 

What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat. 

In  what  a forge  and  what  a heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope! 

Fear  not  each  sullen  sound  and  shock, 

’Tis  of  the  wave,  and  not  the  rock; 

’Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail, 

And  not  a rent  made  by  the  gale! 

In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest’s  roar, 

In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore, 

Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee, 

Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 

Our  faith,  triumphant  o’er  our  fears, 

Are  all  with  thee, — are  all  with  thee! 

(Applause.) 

Mr.  Edward  F.  Fagan,  of  New  York:  “Mr.  Chairman:  I 
have  a resolution  here  with  respect  to  the  paper  just  read  by  the 
Hon.  Honore  Mercier,  which  I ask  unanimous  consent  to  offer  at 
this  time.” 

The  resolution  was  read,  as  follows: 

Resolved , That  the  representatives  of  the  American  Catholic 
Congress  here  assembled  tender  their  cordial  greetings  to  the  people 
of  the  neighboring  government  of  Canada,  offering  their  grateful 
acknowledgments  and  congratulations  to  her  for  the  warm  senti- 
ments of  regard  and  love  entertained  by  her  for  the  people  of  our 
republic,  as  expressed  by  the  noble  utterances  of  her  worthy7  son 
and  sterling  representative.  Premier  Mercier.  (Applause.) 


36 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS , 


Mr.  Onahan:  “I  move  that  the  resolution  be  adopted.” 

Mr.  M.  W.  O’Brien:  ‘‘I  second  the  motion.” 

(The  question  was  put  and  the  resolution  was  adopted  by 
unanimous  vote.) 

The  Chairman:  ‘‘Before  proceeding  with  the  regular  order, 
which  is  the  reading  of  the  next  paper,  I have  the  honor  to  introduce 
to  you,  Mgr.  Gadd,  who  comes  here  from  England  as  the  represen- 
tative of  the  distinguished  Cardinal  Manning,  archbishop  of  West- 
minster. ’ ’ 

Mgr.  Gadd  said:  11  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen : I do  not 
feel  justified  in  occupying  the  attention  of  this  convention,  when 
you  have  so  much  to  do  this  morning,  but  this  much  I must  do 
since  the  Governor  Carroll  has  called  upon  me.  I desire  to  ex- 
press to  you  the  cordial  feelings  of  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Manning, 
the  cardinal  archbishop  of  Westminster,  whose  representative  I have 
the  honor  to  be,  and  of  Bishop  Vaughan, the  distinguished  bishop  of 
Salford,  who  has  done  so  much  for  the  colored  people  on  this  part  of 
the  continent,  whom  I have  also  the  honor  to  represent,  and  to  con- 
vey to  you  their  feelings  of  deep  respect  and  heartfelt  congratulation 
on  this  noble  congress  at  which  I am  present  this  morning.”  (Ap- 
plause. ) 

The  Chairman:  ‘‘The  next  paper  will  be  read  by  the  Hon. 
Peter  L-  Foy,  of  St.  Louis.”  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Foy:  ‘‘Permit  me  one  word  of  explanation  before  I begin 
to  read  the  paper.  Originally  I was  appointed  to  read  a paper  on 
‘Charities,’  but  at  a meeting  held  in  Detroit,  where  there  were 
several  bishops  present,  it  was  suggested  that  everything  that  could 
be  said  about  charities  had  been  said,  and  that  it  would  be  better 
for  me  to  take  up  the  subject  of  philanthropic  movements  generally. 
I deferred  cheerfully  to  the  suggestion  made  by  the  bishops  in  De- 
troit, and  therefore  I read  my  paper  on  philanthropic  movements  in 
general.  I will  have  to  invite  your  attention  to  an  order  of  ideas 
which  is  practical,  and  which  belongs  to  the  present,  and  which 
especially  belongs  to  the  masses,  more  than  to  the  classes.”  (Ap- 
plause. ) 

THE  NEW  SOCIAL  ORDER. 

FOURTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  PETER  L.  FOY,  OF  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 

Time,  we  are  told,  is  the  greatest  innovator.  At  present  his 
innovations  increase  and  multiply  exceedingly.  Human  activity 
(personified  as  Time  in  Bacon’s  apothegm),  the  great  author  oi 
change,  grows  daily  in  volume  and  intensity.  The  religious,  polit- 
ical, social,  and  industrial  systems  in  which  we  live,  move,  and  have 
our  being  are  such  highly  complex  causes  that  we  often  fail  to  see 
them  in  their  true  light.  Their  proximate  effects  cannot  be  dis- 
cerned with  much  degree  of  clearness,  nor  their  secondary  ones  pre- 
dicted with  any  degree  of  probability.  We  do  not  know  ; we  can 
but  guess,  and  our  guesses  are  various,  and  at  best  but  faint  and 
flickering  adumbrations  of  coming  events.  We  are  seldom  able  to 
divine  the  issue  of  any  great  crisis  or  its  permanent  results.  Never- 
theless, all  is  not  hidden.  We  see  the  forms  of  the  actual  “ domina- 
tions ” looming  through  the  smoke  of  battle  and  feel  their  overwhelm- 
ing pressure.  We  catch  glimpses  now  and  then  of  the  form  and 
physiognomy  of  the  coming  power.  Some  phenomena  are  so  con- 
spicuous as  to  catch  every  eve,  and  their  significance  is  so  obvious 
that  no  one  can  miss  it.  The  two  most  conspicuous  developments 
of  the  modern  world  are  the  democratic  and  industrial  movements. 
In  the  foremost  nations,  political  power  is  now  practically  vested  in 
the  people.  The  era  of  democratic  ascendency  and  rule  has  set  in 
with  irresistible  force,  and  in  all  human  probability  will  last  as  long 
as  civilization  itself.  It  is  true,  we  may  yet  discern  here  and  there 
on  the  horizon’s  rim  the  golden  round  of  sovereignty  on  the  drooping 
brow  of  emperor  or  king,  but  it  is  no  longer  the  symbol  of  sovereign 
power.  Demos  is  mayor  of  the  palace,  the  power  behind  the  throne, 
greater  than  the  throne  itself,  which,  together  with  the  crown,  he 
will  one  day  send  to  the  national  museum,  or  offer  at  public  sale  for 
the  benefit  of  the  national  treasury.  It  is  true,  also,  that  he  has  not 
yet  quite  come  into  his  inheritance  in  the  military  monarchies — that 
he  is  cabined  and  cribbed, confined  and  terrorized — encompassed  round 
about  with  bayonets  and  tyrannical  laws — in  those  states, but,  never- 
theless, his  advent  to  supreme  power  is  but  a question  of  a few  short 


years.  In  America  the  new  order  has  completely  superseded  the 
old.  The  sceptre  passed  long  ago  into  the  strong  right  hand  of  De- 
mocracy, and  is  wielded  with  vigor  and  sometimes  with  wisdom. 
The  name  of  that  sceptre  is  the  ballot.  His  thunder  voice  is  called 
public  opinion. 

If  the  political  state  of  our  own  country  and  that  of  Europe  are 
not  exactly  alike  at  the  moment,  owing  to  the  survival  in  the  latter 
of  royal,  noble,  and  other  titles  which  are  no  longer  wedded  to  power 
or  authority,  and  the  domination  of  physical  force  embodied  in  armies, 
the  social  life  of  the  rich  all  over  Europe  and  America  is  the  same. 
From  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow  to  Paris  and  London,  to  New  York 
and  San  Francisco,  to  Mexico  and  Buenos  Ayres,  the  wealthy  classes 
lead  the  same  luxurious,  self-indulgent  life,  eat,  drink,  and  dress  in 
the  same  fashion,  cultivate  the  same  tastes,  pursue  the  same  round  of 
pleasures,  and  indulge  in  the  same  gilded  dissipations.  The  masses 
in  Europe  have  one  or  two  traits  in  common — they  are  all  toil-worn 
and  poverty-stricken.  Toil-worn  and  poverty-stricken  men  and 
women  may  be  found  in  America,  too.  At  home  as  well  as  abroad 
we  sacrifice  to  idols,  chiefly  to  Mammon,  ‘‘the  least  erected  spirit 
that  fell  from  heaven,”  whose  numerous  shrines  are  thronged  with 
votaries  and  served  with  competitive  zeal  by  Jew  and  gentile. 

Looming  up  in  the  midst  of  us,  though  in  lesser  proportions,  is 
that  other  Titan  of  the  age,  organized  industry.  Democracy  is  the 
embodiment  of  all,  and  therefore  includes  the  multitudinous  person- 
nel of  industry,  organized  and  unorganized,  and  all  other  classes; 
but  if  the  greater  power  sways  the  sceptre  of  legislation,  the 
Demiurgus  of  organized  industry  wields  a magician’s  wand.  His 
empire  extends  over  matter  and  force,  both  of  which  he  makes  do 
his  bidding.  Earth  and  fire  and  water  obey  him.  The  lightning, 
swifter  than  light,  he  has  trapped  and  domesticated.  Enriched 
with  a knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and  of  the  relations  of 
numbers  and  plane  figures,  and  armed  with  the  tool,  and  the  labor- 
saving  machine,  which  is  a multiple  of  the  tool  — equipped  with  all 
these,  gifts  of  the  Magi,  and  hierophants  of  the  elements,  and  the  soul 
of  the  elements  — force  — from  Prometheus  down  to  Morse  and  Edi- 
son, from  Tubal  Cain  down  to  the  alchemists  and  Bessemer,  from 
Pythagoras  down  to  Copernicus,  Galileo,  Newton  and  La  Place, 
from  Euclid  and  Archimedes  down  to  Watts  and  the  mechanicians, 
engineers,  chemists,  and  all  the  other  masters  of  applied  science,  the 
hundred-handed  giant  of  organized  industry  — the  ten  thousand 
thousand-handed,  rather  — achieves  new  and  wonderful  things,  con- 
tinually turning  inert  matter  into  objects  of  utility  and  beaut}',  the 
old  into  the  new,  the  simple  into  the  complex,  the  few  into  the 
many,  the  little  into  the  great,  bringing  the  far  near,  running  a win- 
ning race  with  the  hours,  assimilating  and  harmonizing  here,  differ- 
entiating and  specializing  there,  raising  every  symbol  in  mechanical 
science  to  a higher  and  still  higher  power,  recreating  or  miscreating 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  the  things  erected 
on  it.  He  is  the  poet,  the  maker  in  the  world  of  sense,  and  his 
alphabet  is  composed  of  things,  not  signs.  He  is,  also,  and  not  sel- 
dom, the  ‘‘Anarch  Old,”  the  miscreator,  because  the  divine  light 
of  reason,  which  is  the  very  pulse  of  the  aggregate  machine,  the 
cosmic  principle  which  coordinates  and  unifies  the  diverse  elements 
and  the  thousand  parts,  and  gives  them  organic  harmony,  is  still 
subject  to  irruptions  of  the  primeval  lawlessness  and  darkness. 
Madness  may  fall  on  the  many,  as  on  the  one. 

The  same  highly  organized  industrial  and  commercial  system 
which  extends  over  western  Europe  and  Germany,  overspreads  this 
country  also.  The  field  of  skilled  labor  and  manufacturing  enter- 
prise is  wide  and  varied,  and  the  living  and  mechanical  forces,  and 
the  intellectual  activities  operating  in  it  and  through  it  are  mani- 
fold. Their  fecundity  of  production  in  united  action  is  so  great  that 
the  statistician’s  figures  in  that  branch  of  political  economy  which 
deals  with  production  and  consumption,  are  a good  deal  like  the 
astronomer’s,  when  he  tells  us  of  the  distances  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  and  the  number  of  the  invisible  stars.  This  power  will 
grow,  for  new  discoveries  will  be  made  and  new  machines  invented. 
Commerce  follows  manufactures,  in  spite  of  all  impediments.  What 
is  the  culmination  and  grand  result  of  all  those  agencies  of  produc- 
tion and  distribution?  I answer,  The  creation  and  concentration  of 
boundless  wealth  in  the  cities,  and  a corresponding  increase,  con- 
centration, and  condensation  of  the  children  of  toil  at  the  same 
points.  Wealth  beyond  all  that  fables  yet  have  feigned  flows  into 
the  spacious  reservoirs  of  Dives.  Landlords,  bankers,  brewers, 
distillers,  railroad  owners,  mill  owners,  iron  and  steel  manufacturers, 
mine  owners,  patent  owners,  and  various  other  denominations  ot 
monopolists  and  privileged  count  their  fortunes  by  millions  and 
tens  of  millions.  Those  high  priests  of  Mammon  have  apparently 
no  higher  mental  endowment  than  other  men,  and  the  sinister  con- 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


37 


tingent  of  them  have  no  moral  worth,  and  not  a few  belong  to  the 
category  of  dicers  and  blacklegs.  The  thimble-rigger  and  the  mar- 
ket-rigger are  birds  of  a feather.  The  millionaires  are  not  a numer- 
ous class.  Half  the  wealth  of  the  United  States,  for  instance,  belongs, 
it  is  said,  to  30,000  persons,  the  other  half  to  the  64,970,000,  who  have 
been  so  largely  instrumental  in  producing  the  whole.  Whether  this  be 
so  or  not  the  disparity  is  monstrous,  and  we  may  be  sure,  it  is  still 
more  so  in  the  old  countries.  I but  repeat  a primary  precept  of  the 
moral  law  when  I say  that  we  all  have  equal  rights  to  equal  or 
unequal  things,  as  the  case  may  be;  and  state  but  a commonplace 
of  political  economy  when  I say  that  the  interests  of  capital  and 
labor  are  the  same  in  the  long  run.  But  whether  by  the  operation 
of  natural  occult  causes,  or  by  human  design  (chiefly  by  the  latter, 
I believe),  the  inequality  of  things  may  be  too  extreme  because 
unjust.  In  the  partition  of  the  net  product  of  industry  between 
labor  and  capital,  for  instance,  either  may  get  more  than  its  proper 
share,  to  the  detriment  of  the  other  necessarily,  as  well  of  the  gen- 
eral interests.  The  favored  one  will  prefer  immediate  to  remote 
gain.  Unfair  division  must  have  been  the  rule  in  the  past,  or  the 
contrast  between  the  two  great  divisions  of  society,  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  would  not  be  the  astounding  spectacle  it  is.  The  contrast  is 
too  violent.  The  positive  pole  is  too  much  of  a plus  and  the  nega- 
tive too  much  of  a minus  quantity.  Undoubtedly  this  condition  has 
been  partially  brought  about  by  statutory  enactments  and  other  arti- 
ficial means.  Centralization  is  unquestionably  a law  of  the  indus- 
trial as  well  as  the  political  movement,  but  the  accelerated  speed  of  the 
centripetal  tendency  in  recent  times  is  attributable  not  to  natural, 
but  to  civil  law.  Capital  and  enterprise  gravitate  to  certain  favor- 
able points,  bringing  the  multitude  in  their  train.  Wealth  and 
population  increase,  but  wealth  more  than  population,  and  distress 
more  than  wealth,  The  great  city  lifts  its  tower-crowned  head  and 
becomes  a centre  of  attraction  powerful  as  the  mountain  magnet  in 
the  calendar’s  tale,  a seat  of  science  and  art,  a scene  of  fashion, 
luxury,  and  pleasure,  and  too  often  a hot-bed  of  licentiousness.  The 
centralizing  tendency  of  things  in  general  is  stimulated  by  the 
lucrative  privileges  which  wealth  never  fails  to  win  from  the  govern- 
ment. The  cities  are  the  foci  of  the  new  ideas  and  of  the  intel- 
lectual activities  and  enterprise  which  essay  to  realize  them  in  action 
and  object.  They  possess  subtle  powers  unknown  to  the  rural 
population  which  are  periodically  called  into  play  in  the  policy  ot 
the  state  for  the  benefit  of  private  or  corporate  interests.  Capital,  in 
alliance  with  the  most  influential  political  party,  whose  leaders  it 
never  fails  to  corrupt,  always  obtains  the  franchises  and  privileges 
which  it  covets.  The  centripetal  tendency,  as  it  is  revealing  itself 
at  the  present,  is  manifestly  the  resultant  of  a composition  of  forces, 
not  the  least  potent  of  which  are  the  acts  of  congress,  the  state  leg- 
islatures, or  the  city  councils.  That  the  maximum  of  the  move- 
ment is  not  yet  attained,  is  deducible  from  what  is  happening  every 
day.  The  formation  of  “trusts,”  in  which  the  unit  is  an  aggrega- 
tion of  millions  of  capital,  and  the  trust  itself  a confederacy,  is  the 
latest  development,  but  who  shall  say  it  is  the  ultimate  one?  Some 
of  the  great  manufactories  in  Europe  employ  many  thousands  of 
hands.  M.  Schneider,  of  Crusot,  for  instance,  employs  15,000 
men,  and  Herr  Krupp,  of  Essen,  and  Sir  William  Armstrong,  the 
English  gun  maker,  quite  as  many,  if  not  more,  in  the  production  of 
destroying  agencies  — guns  and  munitions  of  war.  There  are 
many  other  factories  of  the  same  kind  in  France,  Germany,  and 
England. 

The  central  movement  of  capital  and  industry  may  be  said  to 
extend  to  sea  as  well  as  land.  It  rides  the  wave  to  explore  the  sub- 
marine abysses,  and  lays  thousands  of  miles  of  cable  on  the  plateaux, 
gulfs,  and  ridges,  leagues  and  fathoms  down. 

It  has  substituted  steam  power  for  the  changing  winds.  It  has 
multiplied  and  transformed  the  transoceanic  passenger  vessel  into  a 
fleet  of  huge  hotels,  carrying  each  2,000  souls,  twenty  knots  an 
hour.  We  may  add  that  it  influences  domestic  traffic  as  well  as  le 
haut  commerce  and  manufactures  — witness  the  retail  entrepots,  with 
their  multifarious  assortments,  which  are  crushing  out  or  absorbing 
the  small  shops,  and  the  handicrafts. 

The  creation  and  concentration  of  wealth  and  the  collateral 
movements  thus  go  on  incessantly.  The  miscellaneous  multitudes 
of  both  sexes,  young  and  old,  working  in  conjunction  with  ma- 
chinery moved  by  steam  and  kindred  motive  powers,  and  supported, 
supervised,  and  directed  by  capital,  are  of  course  the  agents  of  all 
artificial  production.  The  same  unjust  abnormal  relations  between 
employers  and  employed  prevail  throughout  Europe  and  America. 
We  witness  the  same  extremes  of  conditions  — the  same  Serbonian 


bogs  of  penury,  destitution,  and  despair  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
shining  heaps  of  superabundant  gold  on  the  other  — the  same  black 
shadows  and  high  lights,  in  the  picture  of  the  mercantile  and  manu- 
facturing countries.  The  volcanic  energies  of  American  life,  com- 
bined with  the  natural  riches  of  the  land,  develop  centreity  with 
unrivalled  rapidity.  We  see  new  cities  springing  up  to  adult  stature, 
and  old  cities  (old  in  our  chronology)  doubling  their  population  in 
two  or  three  decades.  San  Francisco,  a great  metropolis  of  400,000, 
is  about  fifty  years  old.  Denver,  which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
cities  on  the  continent,  and  which  promises  to  be  one  of  the  largest, 
is  about  thirty  years  old.  The  growth  of  Kansas  City,  the  eyrie  of 
far  western  enterprise,  is  not  less  marvelous.  New  York  is  a huge 
aggregation,  numbering  perhaps  two  millions,  and  next  to  Eondon, 
the  greatest  emporium  in  the  world.  Philadelphia  counts  more 
than  a million;  Chicago  more  than  three-quarters  of  a million,  and 
St.  Louis  more  than  half  a million.  Baltimore,  Cincinnati,  Pitts- 
burgh, Louisville,  Nashville,  Atlanta,  and,  in  short,  all  the  impor- 
tant places,  continue  to  grow.  If  we  look  across  the  oceau  we  see 
London,  through  her  smoke  and  fog,  swarming  with  her  five 
millions.  Paris  has  more  than  two  millions,  Berlin  a million  and  a 
half,  Vienna  twelve  hundred  thousand.  There  are  besides  the  great 
manufacturing  and  trading  centres — Liverpool,  Manchester,  Birm- 
ingham, Leeds,  Glasgow,  Liege,  Antwerp,  Bremen,  Lyons,  and 
others.  All  are  stored  with  wealth  and  clothed  with  splendor,  stud- 
ded with  palaces — studded  also  with  barracks,  jails,  poorhouses, 
and  hospitals.  Dives  has  also  besides  his  palace  in  the  city,  his 
palace  or  palaces  in  the  country,  surrounded  by  Elysian  fields, 
where  the  sea  breeze  chastens  the  torrid  season,  or  on  wind-swept 
grouse  moor  or  prairie  or  mountain  crest,  or  in  the  midst  of  his  ances- 
tral oaks  or  remote  deer  forest.  All  this  is  well  enough  in  the 
abstract,  and  would  be  in  the  concrete  if  the  condition  of  Lazarus 
and  his  tribe,  and  of  the  sons  of  labor,  whose  touch  is  the  one 
alchemical  virtue  that  transmutes  all  things  into  gold,  were  free 
from  want,  ignorance,  and  squalor— if  health  and  modest  plenty  and 
the  homely  pleasures  dwelt  in  the  narrow  cottages  as  household 
gods,  not  visited  it  at  long  intervals  as  flying  guests — if  provision 
were  made  that  none  should  suffer  want  and  that  when  the  time 
came,  the  bruised  reed  should  not  be  broken.  The  lofty  mansion 
and  its  surroundings,  the  foliage  and  floral  bloom,  indigenous  and 
exotic  in  the  vernal  season  or  when  October  clothes  tree  and  shrub 
with  russet,  purple,  crimson,  and  gold,  which  the  envious  gust  strips 
off  and  shrivels  and  withers  as  he  showers  them  on  the  sward ; the 
light  and  shade  and  brooding  quiet,  and  all  the  other  charms  of 
garden  and  woodland,  have  salutary  greetings  for  spectator  as  well 
as  owner,  and  for  soul  as  well  as  sense,  and  like  the  Pleiades  above 
shed  sweet  influences,  as  indeed,  according  to  the  high  authority  of 
the  poets,*  every  wild  flower  and  forest  tree  is  capable  of  doing, 
if  we  are  but  in  the  right  mood  to  receive  them.  The  abuse  of 
riches,  the  unequal  apportionment  of  profits  which  are  the  ele- 
ments of  riches,  are  the  grievances  of  which  the  commonalty  justly 
complain,  as  they  are  the  prime  incentives  to  those  spoliation 
schemes  and  socialistic  movements  which  aim  at  the  confiscation  of 
landed  property  and  the  total  destruction  of  the  existing  order  of 
things. 

Learning  and  science,  letters  and  arts,  are  largely  indebted  to 
private  wealth;  so  is  every  form  of  charity.  Individual  endowment 
has  founded  and  will  continue  to  found  many  a famous  school,  many 
a spacious  hospital  and  asylum,  many  a noble  church,  many  a 
treasure  house  of  natural  history,  sculpture,  and  painting.  Even 
when  spurred  on  by  selfish  motives,  private  and  corporate  wealth  do 
many  things  that  contribute  to  the  general  culture  and  well-being, 
redeeming  waste  lands,  planting  new  industries,  importing  superior 
breeds  of  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep,  importing  beautiful  statues  and 
pictures,  useful  and  ornamental  plants;  building  railroads,  telegraph 
lines,  palace  hotels,  and  “floating  palaces.”  I neither  meditate  nor 
pronounce  any  anathema  on  riches,  which  is  but  another  name  for 
capital  — an  indispensable  factor  of  production  and  the  well-spring 
of  wages.  I maintain  that  the  growth  of  capital  ought  to  accom- 
pany or  exceed  the  growth  of  population,  if  the  interests  of  labor  sre 
to  be  advanced.  If  the  amount  of  active  capital  declines,  absolutely 
or  relatively,  a lower  wage  is  inevitable.  I contend  that  rich  men, 
and  a certain  proportion  of  very  rich  men,  that  is,  capitalists,  are  an 
essential  element  of  the  body  politic,  because  an  essential  element  of 
progress.  Without  knowing  it,  perhaps,  they  translate  a good  deal 
of  poetry  into  fact  and  object  and  turn  ideal  scenes  into  visible  idyls, 
or  they  ‘ ‘ decree  ’ ’ them  done  in  the  masterful  manner  of  the  eastern 
potentate,  t which  is  practically  the  same  thing.  They  hold  the 


*See  the  opening  of  “Endymion”  and  almost  any  part  of  the  “Excursion.” 


f“Kubla  Khan.” 


3« 


THE  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESS. 


keys  of  the  workingman’s  paradise  — permanent,  remunerative, 
invigorating  employment  — but  unfortunately,  at  the  best  of  times, 
the  gates  are  held  ajar,  and  but  comparatively  few  of  the  working 
men  are  admitted.  I do  not  deny  that  the  rich  are  getting  richer, 
but  I do  deny  that  the^  poor  are  getting  poorer.  On  the  contrary, 
the  circle  of  comfort,  competency,  and  intelligence  is  widening 
slowly  — too  slowly — though  the  outer  darkness  may  be  dense  as 
ever,  and  vexed  as  ever  with  weeping,  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

The  questions  now  before  the  American  people  (they  are  less 
political  than  social)  are  the  most  important  since  the  slavery  ques- 
tion was  decided.  In  England,  the  combined  socialist  and  labor 
movement  is  the  most  important  since  the  era  of  the  ‘ ‘ Great  Rebell- 
ion in  France,  since  the  revolution;  in  Germany,  since  the 
Napoleonic  conquest.  The  accusation  and  indictment  which  the 
proletariat  urge  in  the  forum  of  all  nations  is  that  the  capitalists,  in 
the  broad  sense  of  the  definition,  take  or  get  more  than  their  due 
proportion  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth  and  all  industry,  and  in  addition 
absorb  the  whole  unearned  increment,  whether  coming  from  land  or 
other  monopolies.  I am  bound  to  say  the  charge  is  but  too  well 
founded.  All  the  facts  and  phenomena  testify  to  it.  How  else 
could  there  be  squalid  misery  and  an  infinite  amount  of  it  at  one  end 
of  the  scale  and  excessive  riches  at  the  other  ? It  will  not  do  to 
attribute  the  condition  of  the  poor  to  themselves  — to  their  improv- 
idence, idleness,  and  intemperance,  etc.  The  proletariat,  as  a body, 
are  not  demoralized,  for  they  are  willing  and  able  to  work,  and  live 
by  work  when  it  can  be  got.  Their  occasional  lapses  from  sobriety 
and  thrift,  and  the  dissipated  habits  of  some,  are  in  no  small  degree 
caused  by  their  wretched,  sordid  environment,  which  has  been  built 
around  them  in  iron  circles  by  the  same  blind  destiny  that  flung  the 
golden  fleece  round  their  antipodes  in  the  social  sphere.  If  the 
question  of  morality  should  be  raised  between  the  two,  the  debate 
would  never  end.  Each  has  its  own  sins  to  answer  for,  and  those 
of  each  may  be  put  into  the  scale  against  the  other’s;  but  when  the 
few,  trailing  their  vast  possessions,  are  weighed  against  the  naked 
many,  the  landless,  the  moneyless,  the  thirty  thousand  against  the 
twice  thirty  millions,  the  scales  no  longer  balance.  The  thousands, 
loaded  down  with  the  world’s  goods,  are  heavy,  the  millions,  light. 
The  gold  outweighs  the  flesh  and  blood  and,  a fortiori , capital  out- 
weighs labor.  To  adjust  or  readjust  the  balance,  to  establish  a 
permanent  equilibrium  between  capital  and  labor,  or  more  broadly, 
between  the  millionaires,  the  toiling  masses,  and  the  public  at  large, 
without  infringing  on  the  just  rights  of  any  is  the  chief  problem  of 
political  science  in  this,  our  day  and  generation.  The  undue  pre- 
ponderance of  one  class  in  public  affairs  and  society  movements 
generally,  like  the  unconstitutional  preponderance  of  one  branch  of 
a government  at  the  expense  of  the  others,  is  the  fruitful  cause  of 
morbid  unrest,  chronic  agitation,  and  revolutionary  change.  The 
people  are  instinctively  opposed  to  plutocratic  ascendancy  mote  than 
to  any  other,  because  plutocracy  never  hesitates  to  employ  bribery 
for  the  attainment  of  selfish  ends,  and  leans  on  corruption  as  its  most 
powerful  auxiliary.  Furthermore,  undue  aggressive  prominence, 
inordinate  covetousness,  loud  ostentation,  overweening  pride,  and 
frivolous  exclusiveness  — the  most  marked  characteristic  of  the 
nouveaux  riches  — are  universally  disliked,  and  the  caste  themselves 
bitterly  envied  and  loudly  cursed.  Class  pride  and  the  vices  inher- 
ent in  caste  have  brought  down  old  aristocracies,  and  are  darkly 
dangerous  to  the  new  in  the  new  democratic  and  industrial  era.  To 
restore  and  maintain  the  equilibrium  of  the  different  powers  of  the 
state,  of  the  different  classes  of  the  population,  is  simply  to  restore 
and  maintain  the  healthy  condition  of  the  state  and  secure  the 
stability  and  improvement  of  its  institutions.  This  rule  applies  to 
the  natural  body  as  well  as  the  body  politic.  The  harmonious 
workings  of  the  different  organs,  the  maintenance  of  the  equation 
of  waste  and  nutrition,  are  the  conditions  of  health.  The  frequent 
disturbance  of  these  normal  relations  — the  feebler  action  of  some 
organs,  the  excessive  activity  of  others  — means  disordered  func- 
tions, the  decay  of  the  organism,  and  dissolution.  To  wisely  coor- 
dinate the  special  and  public  interests,  to  place  and  maintain  each 
part  of  the  community  in  its  proper  place  and  in  just  relation  to  the 
whole,  or,  more  correctly,  to  repress  all  class  usurpation,  whether  the 
class  be  workers  or  employers,  is,  I repeat,  the  desideratum  of  the 
new  statesmanship  and  the  problem  of  the  age.  Mere  part}'  politics 
are  passing  out  of  date  into  the  limbo  whither  have  fled  the  ghosts 
of  slaver}^  and  the  alien  and  sedition  laws.  The  democracy  has  the 
severest  of  its  Herculean  tasks  before  it,  for  the  great  social  question 
which  is  the  integral  of  the  labor  question,  the  educational  ques- 
tion, the  state  charities  question,  and  the  temperance  question  will 
dwarf  all  other  issues,  and  on  the  satisfactory  solution  of  it  the 
welfare  and  healthy  progress  of  the  American  people  depend. 


After  we  have  seen  the  earth  and  the  glory  of  it  from  the  top 
of  a high  mountain,  as  it  were,  after  we  have  gazed  on  one  famous 
metropolis  after  another,  with  all  its  treasures,  on  the  cloud-capt  tow- 
ers, the  gorgeous  palaces,  on  the  gardens  of  Epicurus  and  the  groves  of 
Academe,  on  the  flaming  blazonry  which  pride,  pomp,  and  luxury 
fling  from  their  lofty  battlements,  after  we  have  noted  all  this  and 
every  other  dazzling  spectacle  that  the  luminous  panorama  unfolds, 
and  gloried  in  the  more  substantial  achievements  of  skilled  labor, 
science,  and  art,  in  the  innumerable  inventions  of  our  wondrous 
mother  age,  iu  all  the  triumphs  of  our  material  civilization,  can  we 
yet  dare  to  cry  out  from  the  watch  tower,  All  is  well  ? He  were  a 
false  sentinel  who  uttered  that  cry.  No!  all  is  not  well.  The  na- 
tions are  smitten  with  organic  ailments,  the  consequences  of  those 
very  policies,  pursuits,  and  ambitions  which  in  making  them  popu- 
lous, haughty,  and  opulent,  have  made  them  more  corrupt,  more 
formidable  to  one  another,  and  most  dangerously  oppressive  to  their 
own  citizens  or  subjects.  In  Europe  to-day  there  are  millions  of 
armed  men,  idling  away  their  time,  passing  dreary  lives  in  camps 
and  barracks  and  vessels  of  war,  who  have  to  be  supported  by  the 
working  people,  because  they  themselves  toil  not,  neither  do  they 
spin.  In  time  of  war  these  millions  mount  to  Avelve  or  fifteen  and 
their  business  then  is  to  destroy  life  and  property  and  as  an  imme- 
diate consequence  ravage  the  conquered  country.  Those  immense 
armaments  on  sea  and  land  and  the  wars  have  created  and  continue 
to  create  immense  public  debts  which  devour  the  earnings  of  the 
workman  and  entail  a perpetual  mortgageon  posterity,  which  means 
on  the  working  people,  generation  after  generation.  There  was  a 
probability  at  one  time  that  all  the  nations  of  Christendom  would 
constitute  a Christian  confederation  and  that  international  disputes 
would  be  settled  by  the  arbitration  of  the  Apostolic  See.  But  the 
Reformation  rooted  out  that  sublime  idea  and  planted  international 
discord  and  the  seeds  of  perennial  strife  in  its  place.  We  are  slowly 
learning  that  war,  though  sometimes  necessary,  is  a calamity  and  a 
curse;  that  military  grandeur  is  too  costly  a luxury,  aud  that  mili- 
tary glory  is  dearly  bought,  without  counting  the  families  made 
desolate,  or  the  limb-shattered  survivors  and  permanent  invalids. 
Society  in  truth  is  fundamentally  disordered,  as  we  cannot  help 
seeing.  The  physical  ills  have  their  sources  iu  the  pride  aud  ambi- 
tion inherent  in  empires  and  military  states  and  the  ignoble  pas- 
sions and  licentious  appetites  of  our  nineteenth-century  aristocracies 
and  their  satellites  and  sycophants.  Mammon  has  our  aspirations 
and  energies  in  thrall,  and  luxury  and  sensuality  follow  in  his  train. 
Where  these  dwell  and  reign  all  the  powers  of  the  nether  world 
congregate. 

Those  renowned  cities  and  marts,  seas  of  light  apparently  on 
the  earth’s  surface — man-made  constellations,  so  to  speak — abound 
in  maelstroms  of  poverty,  pestilence,  and  crime.  Famine  and  his 
evil  brood,  drunkenness  and  his  still  more  evil  brood  stalk  through 
street  and  alley,  night  and  day.  Blameless  indigence  and  tottering 
old  age  are  doomed  to  the  haunts  and  hovels — the  cellars  and  the 
garrets — wherein  leprous  disease  and  habitual  criminality  make 
their  squalid  lairs,  because  there  is  no  shelter  outside  the  workhouse 
or  the  lazar-house.  The  magnitude  of  the  urban  pauper  element  is 
an  unknown  quantity,  and  so  is  the  number  of  charities,  religious 
and  voluntary,  including  the  host  of  alms  givers,  which  try  to  cope 
with  it  but  fail  to  do  so,  because  the  sooty  flood  of  Acheron,  welling 
up  from  bottomless  depths,  overflows  every  breakwater.  The  char- 
ities and  charitable  institutions  of  all  kinds,  at  home  as  well  as 
abroad,  are  always  overtasked.  In  the  sum,  they  are  utterly  inade- 
quate to  meet  the  calls  on  them.  Paupers,  mendicants,  criminals  of 
all  grades — the  outcasts  of  both  sexes — constitute  a considerable 
proportion  of  our  own  civic  populations.  The  criminal  classes  are 
largely  recruited  from  the  wandering  tribes  of  the  streets — the  loaf- 
ers, hoodlums,  tramps,  etc.  Next  to  them  come  the  petty  peddlers, 
and  pickers-up  of  unconsidered  trifles,  of  which  the  chiffonier,  the 
match  seller  and  the  gutter  snipe  are  the  types.  Far  outnumbering 
both  are  the  hordes  of  unorganized,  unskilled  labor — able-bodied 
men,  who  ask  at  first  but  for  employment,  which  they  do  not  always 
get,  and  which  when  they  do  get  is  generally  but  casual,  and 
whose  condition  at  best  is  precarious  because  sickness  or  enforced 
idleness  reduces  them  to  absolute  destitution,  and  these  con- 
tingencies are  frequent  in  their  lives.  They  stand  at  all  times 
on  the  brink  of  the  abyss,  and  fall  into  it  like  the  travellers  on 
lower  the  bridge  of  life  in  the  vision  of  Mirza.  In  the  best  of 
times  they  are  compelled  to  accept  the  minimum  wage  which  the 
law  of  supply  and  demand  prescribes.  This  applies  also  to  the 
branches  of  skilled  labor,  especially  to  the  • work  of  men  and 
women  and  children  in  sweating  shops  and  factories.  All  those  are 
“objects  of  charity,”  but  not  necessarily  entitled  to  alms  all  the 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


39 


time,  or  support  at  the  expense  of  the  public.  They  are,  neverthe- 
less, entitled  to  the  protection  and  provident  care  of  the  state,  be- 
cause they  are  unable  to  protect  or  always  provide  for  themselves. 
Special  legislation  for  any  class,  except  the  classes  which  by  reason 
of  their  condition  are  incapable  of  protecting  themselves,  is  radically 
vicious.  Hence  it  is  that  I leave  out  of  account  the  various  catago- 
ries  of  skilled  labor — the  artisans,  the  artificers  in  the  precious  met- 
als, engineers,  printers,  mechanics,  the  house  building,  house 
decorating  and  house  furnishing  trades — in  short,  all  who  minister 
to  cultivated  tastes  or  the  special  wants  of  the  rich,  because  in  this 
country,  at  least,  their  remuneration  is  liberal,  and  if  it  be  not,  the 
remedy  is  in  their  own  hands,  and  what  they  can  do  for  themselves 
they  ought  not  to  ask  the  state  to  do.  They  are  for  the  most  part 
intelligent,  provident,  and  independent,  and  cannot  by  any  strain  be 
included  in  the  proletariat.  They  are,  furthermore,  well  organized 
in  trades  unions  and  other  societies,  and  considering  their  voting 
power  and  their  general  unity  of  action,  or  at  least  potential  unity 
of  action,  they  should  be  and  undoubtedly  are  well  able,  if  they 
will,  to  protect  themselves.  Later  I shall  have  a little  to  say  about 
the  interests  common  to  them  and  the  whole  labor  element.  Ex- 
cluding them  and  the  craftsmen  who  work  on  their  own  benches, 
and  are  masters  of  their  own  time,  yet  how  many  are  the  wage 
earners!  Take  first  the  greatest  of  all  industries,  agriculture.  The 
men  and  women  who  work  for  daily  or  monthly  hire  in  the  fields 
from  morning  till  night  through  the  revolving  year,  though  the  sky 
be  as  brass  and  the  earth  as  iron,  are  numerous  as  the  sands  of  the 
sea.  But  because  of  its  very  immensity  the  world  over,  we  will  turn 
away  in  despair  from  that  spectacle  to  lesser  and  local  fields  of  labor. 
The  railroad  employes — the  numerous  hands  engaged  on  the  lines, 
and  in  the  yards,  depots,  and  machine  shops — are  in  constant  danger, 
and,  in  fact,  are  well  nigh  decimated  every  year.  To  prepare  the 
way  for  them,  came  the  pioneer  and  the  road  maker  with  pick  and 
shovel,  whose  bones  moulder  in  nameless  graves  on  prairie  and 
mountain: 

the  forgotten  dead 

Whose  dauntless  hands  were  stretched  to  grasp  the  rein 

Of  Fate  and  hurl  into  the  void  again 

The  thunder-hoofed  horses  rushing  blind, 

Earthward  along  the  courses  of  the  wind. 

Consider  the  millions  who  serve  before  the  mast,  who  are  also 
environed  by  danger,  which  danger  is  aggravated  by  the  cupidity 
of  the  ship  owners.  They  too  have  a life  of  hardship  and  privation, 
and  are  disqualified  for  service  and  therefore  qualified  for  the  poor- 
house  at  a comparatively  early  age.  Consider  next  the  multitudes 
delving  in  the  depths  of  mines  or  performing  equally  dismal  tasks 
in  the  equally  stifling  atmosphere  of  mills  and  factories,  or  before 
furnace  fires,  or  on  the  sweating  benches  of  the  stitchers!  What 
catastrophes  and  fatalities  are  daily  recounted  — explosions,  con- 
flagrations, collisions,  inundations,  shipwrecks  — causing  wholesale 
..loss  of  life,  the  victims,  ninety-nine  out  of  the  hundred,  being  the 
working  men  and  women.  Unremitting  toil,  broken-down  constitu- 
tions, poverty  and  gloom  are  the  guerdons  of  the  millions. 

It  was  not  always  so,  and  should  not  be  so.  If  we  continue  to 
let  ourselves  drift  on  the  turbulent  flood,  at  the  mercy  of  winds  and 
currents;  if  we  continue  to  make  Laissez  Faire  and  Laissez  Allcr 
our  mottoes  and  sovereign  rule  of  conduct,  we  shall  inevitably  be 
driven  on  the  rocks  at  last,  though  for  obvious  reasons  the  catas- 
trophe is  not  imminent.  To  forecast  the  future  we  have  but  to  draw 
plain  deductions  from  the  state  of  things,  prevailing  in  other  coun- 
tries and  from  the  census  tables  — - those  of  other  countries  as  well  as 
our  own.  If  we  would  see  as  in  a magic  mirror  the  image  of  our 
full-grown  and  full-blown  selves,  but  only  a miniature  image,  we 
have  but  to  look  across  the  wave. 

This  is  why  I try  to  keep  Europe,  and  England  especially,  con- 
stantly in  view.  The  conditions  existing  there  are  fast  appearing 
here  on  a larger  scale.  The  England  of  to-day,  the  richest  country 
in  the  world,  the  most  extensive  empire,  the  first  in  commerce  and 
manufactures,  is  the  foreshadow  and  simulacre  of  the  United  States 
of  the  twentieth  century,  unless  in  the  meantime  we  introduce  new 
regulating  and  regenerating  principles  into  our  polity.  We  may 
take  London  as  the  epitome  of  England,  and  the  highest  type  of  the 
nineteenth  century  development.  It  is  the  supreme  result  of  the 
action  and  interaction  of  industrial  and  mercantile  forces,  whose 
productiveness  have  been  dwelt  upon  and  whose  centripetal  tenden- 
cies I have  pointed  out.  The  wealth  harvested  there  annually  is 
almost  beyond  computation.  The  highest  living  authority  in  Eng- 
lish economics  estimated  last  year  the  indebtedness  of  other  coun- 
tries to  English  capitalists  at  over  twelve  thousand  millions  of 


dollars.  It  is  increasing  every  day.  English  syndicates  are  making 
lavish  investments  all  over  North  and  South  America,  especially  in 
this  country —all  over  Asia,  too.  They  are  investing  everywhere, 
even  in  savage  Africa.  The  fountains  are  overflowing  and  the 
golden  flood  has  to  seek  fields  that  may  be  made  to  fructify 
in  farthest  foreign  parts.  Yet  in  that  ver^  London  there  are 
100,000  paupers  in  receipt  of  indoor  or  outdoor  relief,  and  half 
as  many  criminals,  mendicants,  and  prostitutes.  The  noisome 
nether  world  of  the  modern  Babylon  is  as  extensive  as  the  upper 
regions  of  wealth  and  splendor.  That  foul  abyss,  with  all  its  yawn- 
ing gulfs,  deep  opening  into  lower  deep,  like  the  successive  circles 
of  the  Inferno  — that  black  Gehenna,  whose  dragon  breath  turns 
the  sun  to  blood  and  poisons  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  all  nations, 
is  a fact  not  less  stupendous  and  not  less  en  evidence  than  the  dazzling 
riches  spread  out  above,  By  mysterious,  but  by  no  means  inscrut- 
able or  irrepealable  laws,  these  two  worlds  are  directly  related  as 
cause  and  effect , and  in  both  of  them  nature  breeds  perverse  all  mon- 
strous, all  abominable  things.  The  recurring  horrors  of  Cheapside 
make  humanity  shudder,  but  the  recurring  revelations  of  aristocratic 
profligacy  and  insensate  luxury  prove  that  immorality  pervades  the 
one  as  well  as  the  other.  In  that  very  London  there  are  milions 
who  have  never  darkened  a church  door,  and  who  have  no  more 
sense  of  the  supernatural  than  the  beasts  that  perish.  The  propa- 
ganda of  atheism  has  from  of  old  its  chief  seat  there,  and  in  its  latest 
form  of  agnosticism  is  more  active  than  ever.  Religion  withers  and 
dies  in  the  Stygian  atmosphere  of  the  pits  that  underlie  the  great 
city,  and  even  in  the  atmosphere  above  when  too  heavily  loaded 
with  the  fumes  of  the  unwholesome  incense  burned  to  Mammon. 
Nor  when  we  emerge  from  the  total  darkness  into  the  middle  region 
of  unskilled  and  intermittent  labor,  in  the  English  capital  is  the 
prospect  much  improved.  The  number  of  common  laborers  and 
doers  of  odd  jobs  in  and  outofwork,  of  “slaveys,”  household  drudges, 
and  sewing  women  of  all  kinds  is  enormous.  Two  hundred  thou- 
sand laborers  were  on  a strike  a few  weeks  ago  to  get  twelve  instead 
of  ten  cents  an  hour,  and  the  principal  obstacle  they  had  to  over- 
come was  the  pressure  from  without  of  hungry  hordes  of  their  own 
class  who  stormed  to  get  in  to  fill  their  vacant  places.  In  the  East- 
end  sweating  shops  of  the  clothing  houses,  men  and  women  stay  on 
their  benches  during  a working  day  of  from  fourteen  to  sixteen 
hours.  They  have  no  breakfast  or  dinner  interval,  and  after  all. 
their  earnings  are  but  a miserable  pittance,  and  but  partially  serve 
to  sustain  life. 

This  would  sound  incredible  if  it  were  not  for  the  statements 
of  numerous  witnesses  recently  examined  before  a parliamentary 
committee.*  Even  the  higher  grades  of  skilled  labor,  as  well  as 
agricultural  labor,  have  frequent  occasion  to  exclaim,  ‘ ‘ How  full 
of  briars  is  this  working  day  world!  ” The  competition  for  employ- 
ment is  severe,  the  wages  low,  and  the  working  hours  too  many. 
The  spectre  of  indigent  old  age  haunts  the  hearth  of  the  European 
artisan. 

What  is  true  of  one  country  in  the  wide  circle  of  industrial 
and  mercantile  states  is  true  of  all;  what  is  true  of  London  is 
true  of  Paris,  Vienna,  Berlin,  and  sundry  other  places.  Our  own 
metropolitan  cities  differ  but  little  from  the  foreigner,  and  are  very 
much  alike.  Can  we  wonder  then  that  this  poverty-smitten  labor 
element  which  is  the  principal  factor  of  production — production  the 
sum  and  synonym  of  all  wealth — -moves  and  murmurs  throughout  ! 
So  far  it  has  found  no  remedy  for  its  wrongs  but  the  rude  and  un- 
certain one  of  strikes — a cure,  even  when  it  is  a cure— often  worse 
than  the  disease,  for  capital  and  labor  and  the  public  suffer  alike 
while  the  strike  “ is  on,”  but  the  workman  most,  because  it  impairs 
his  morale.  The  incessant  labor  agitations,  extending  far  and  wide, 
are  signs  of  serious  import — symptoms  of  profound  disquietude  and 
disturbance  at  the  very  foundations  of  society.  Let  us  not  lay  the 
flattering  unction  to  our  souls,  that  because  the  American  people 
are  free,  prosperous,  and  powerful,  we  are  therefore  exempt  from  the 
pains  and  penalties  incurred  by  the  violation  of  economic  and  moral 
law.  The  same  causes  produce  the  same  effects  in  all  degrees  of 
latitude  and  longitude  and  under  all  forms  of  government.  We, 
too,  have  paupers,  criminals,  mendicants,  and  incapables  of  many 
kinds,  and  their  numbers  are  not  decreasing.  The  tramp  I fear  is 
perennial  as  well  as  ubiquitous.  The  street  Arab,  the  “hoodlum,” 
and  the  “tough”  are  products  of  our  city  life,  and  they  differ  but 
in  name  from  their  congeners  on  the  other  side.  The  communist, 
the  anarchist,  the  nihilist  walk  our  streets  and  boldly  threaten  the 
magistrate  as  well  as  the  capitalist.  Is  it  not  manifest  that  if  we 
would  escape  the  evils  incidental  to  the  existing  order,  and  involved 


* Lord  Dunraven’s  committee  of  the  house  of  lords. 


40 


THE  CATHOLIC.  CONGRESS. 


in  it  to  its  very  core,  we  must  reform  and  regenerate  it?  There  is, 
however,  no  immediate  cause  of  alarm.  Pessimism,  which  flourishes 
in  Europe,  is  the  religion  of  despair,  and  that  doctrine  cannot 
flourish  for  many  a day  on  American  soil.  We  have  ample  room 
and  verge  enough  wherein  to  plant  and  plough;  we  are  yet  but 
twenty-five  to  the  square  mile,  and  the  superabundance  of  our 
natural  wealth  in  lands,  forests,  and  minerals  will  save  us  for  a 
generation  or  two  from  any  dire  eventuality,  though  certainly  not 
from  serious  internal  commotions.  We  can  now  redress  our  steps 
and  begin  to  move  toward  that  new  world,  which  is  the  old  restored 
to  pristine  health  and  beauty.  Man  is  a free  agent,  and  the  Creator 
offers  him  the  privilege  of  carrying  out  the  divine  plan  which  is 
emblazoned  in  lines  of  light  on  all  his  works,  so  that  he  who  runs 
may  read.  We  generally  prefer  to  follow  our  own,  however,  which 
is  the  cause  of  all  our  woes.  But  though  no  impending  cataclysm 
overshadows  us  like  a thunder  cloud  nor  hurtles  in  the  ‘ ‘ caverns 
under,  ’ ’ like  the  birth-throes  of  the  earthquake,  there  are  dangers 
to  be  encountered,  victories  to  be  won,  evils  to  be  subdued  or  eradi- 
cated. 

To  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  toiling  millions,  to  breathe  a 
kindlier  atmosphere  into  the  hospitals,  the  asylums,  the  bastiles  of 
pauperdom,  and  even  the  felon’s  cell;  to  reorganize  the  public  chari- 
ties on  a broader  basis  and  in  a more  liberal  spirit,  to  save  the  hon- 
est workman  and  his  family  and  even  the  forlorn  tramp  from  hunger 
and  cold,  without  fatally  wounding  in  his  person  the  dignity  of 
human  nature,  to  gather  up  the  orphans,  the  foundlings,  the  waifs 
and  strays  of  the  streets  and  alleys,  and  house  and  train  them  in 
knowledge  and  industry — these  with  the  more  obvious  duties  of  re- 
lieving the  sick  and  the  infirm  are  the  tasks  of  charity,  public  aud 
private,  and  meet  subjects  for  philanthropic  enterprise.  In  their 
execution  the  state  should  take  the  first  place.  If  we  appropriate  so 
many  thousands  or  hundreds  of  thousands  annually  for  the  support 
of  public  charities  and  for  the  toil-worn  wrecks  of  those  huge  indus- 
trial Juggernauts  that  crush  the  marrow  of  the  bones,  we  must  not 
whisper  even  to  ourselves  that  we  are  generous.  We  merely  pay  a 
debt  or  rather  a portion  of  it.  Not  a state  in  the  Union,  not  a 
city  in  any  state  is  sufficiently  equipped  to  meet  the  demands  of 
charity — demands  which  are  undisputably  just  and  nearly  always 
cries  of  necessity.  That  the  state  is  bound  to  the  performance  of 
the  offices  of  charity  within  its  proper  sphere  is  a proposition  which 
it  is  not  necessary,  I presume,  to  demonstrate  in  a Catholic  congress. 
In  the  beginning  the  church  was  a community,  say  rather  a family, 
in  which  all  things  were  in  common  and  fraternal  love  reigned  at  the 
board.  The  type  still  exists,  thank  God,  in  our  monasteries.  Later, 
when  relieved  from  heathen  tyranny,  the  church  created  the  organ- 
ized charities,  which  have  come  down  to  us  through  sixteen  hundred 
3^ears.  Until  the  Reformation,  she  took  the  offices  of  charity  on 
herself  and  performed  them  only  too  liberally,  but  she  was  robbed 
at  that  time  of  all  she  had  within  and  without,  which  was  mainly 
the  patrimony  of  the  poor.  The  state  was  now  obliged  in  self- 
defense  to  become  a public  almoner,  but  thus  far  it  has  proved  a 
poor  substitute  for  the  church.  In  nothing  was  the  change  wrought 
in  human  nature  by  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  more  remarkable 
than  in  what  is  now  called  altruism  or  care  for  others.  Before  the 
Gospel  was  preached  the  hearts  of  men  were  as  hard  as  the  nether  mill- 
stone. The  Roman,  the  Greek,  the  Jew,  and  the  barbarian  were  all 
alike  cruel  and  pitiless.  Society  and  the  individual  were  encased  in 
adamant,  as  it  were.  The  condition  of  the  civilized  world  then  was  anal- 
ogous to  the  condition  of  the  northern  hemisphere  itself  during  a cer- 
tain geological  period.  The  time  was  when  Ursa  Major  in  his  nightly 
round  saw  nothing  on  this  globe  but  snow  and  ice,  the  aspiring  flame 
of  subterraneous  fires  aud  the  deadly  brightness  of  them — when  the 
rivers  were  as  solid  as  the  mountains  and  nothing  was  fluid  but  the 
volcano's  incandescent  overflow,  when  the  coasts  were  planted  with 
forests  of  icebergs,  destined  in  after  times  to  fertilize  distant  lands, 
and  throw  a cooling  breath  on  equatorial  seas.  But  now  by  the  fiat 
of  Him  who  poured  them  from  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  the  great 
ocean  currents  began  to  move  from  the  tropic  towards  the  pole.  The 
deep  blue  river  of  the  Gulf  Stream,  whose  banks  are  the  cleft  Atlan- 
tic, impregnated  by  the  perpendicular  ray,  tempered  the  American 
climate  on  its  destined  course  to  Europe,  near  to  which  it  bifurcated. 
The  life-giving  “horned  flood”  swept  the  shores  of  island  and  conti- 
nent from  Scandinavia  to  Asia  Minor,  creating  the  temperate  zone. 
Dry  land  appeared  once  more,  and  mosses  and  green  grass,  the  birch, 
the  pine,  the  oak,  the  cereal  plant  followed  in  brief  succession,  and 
the  laurel,  the  myrtle,  the  olive,  the  vine,  and  the  daffodil,  the  daisy 
and  the  rose.  The  nightingale  was  heard  in  the  grove  and  the  lark 
in  the  sky.  In  like  manner,  as  soon  as  the  river  of  life  began  to  flow 
in  the  moral  world,  a mighty  change  began.  Sympathy  took  the 


place  of  cynicism,  chastity  of  sensuality,  and  the  love  of  our  neigh- 
bor of  the  inordinate  love  of  self.  The  eternal  brotherhood  of  man 
dawned  on  the  hitherto  benighted  mind  of  man.  The  charity  of 
the  early  Christian  embraced  the  race.  Stranger  and  enemy  ceased 
to  be  synonymous  terms,  the  leper,  the  Magdalene,  the  cripple,  the 
lunatic,  the  dumb,  the  blind,  and  the  destitute  were  the  chosen 
objects  of  Christ’s  miraculous  beneficence.  The  church,  following 
his  example,  as  in  duty  bound  has  from  the  beginning  made  the 
same  pitiable  class  of  beings  her  constant  care.  Wherever  the  new 
religion  took  root,  hospitals,  asylums,  orphanages,  schools,  and 
universities  speedily  grew  up.  An  ampler  ether,  a diviner  air  came 
down.  New  life  was  breathed  into  letters,  science,  and  art.  The 
basilica  arose,  radiant  within  and  without  with  marbles  and  mosaic 
paintings.  Roof  and  aisles  resounded  with  hymns  and  canticles  which 
still  delight  the  profane  as  well  as  the  pious.  The  literary  treasures 
of  Athens,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  and  Rome  were  preserved,  copied, 
interpreted,  and  divinely  illustrated.  Paradise  bloomed  once  again 
within  the  hallowed  precincts  of  the  cloister  and  the  cathedral  close. 
But  charitj'  was  then  as  well  as  now  the  greatest  attribute  of  the 
church,  as  it  is  the  greatest  of  the  virtues,  for  it  wraps  all  nations, 
tongues,  aud  conditions  in  one  supernatural  flame,  exalting  and 
transfiguring  the  meanest  as  well  as  the  highest.  The  grateful  glow 
of  it  falls  on  the  dumb  brute,  and  literally  as  well  as  figuratively 
tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,  and  lightens  the  load  of  the 
beast  of  burden.  The  region  of  darkness  and  mystery  is  the  scene 
of  the  indomitable  flight  of  the  angel  of  charity.  Faith  may  go, 
hope  may  go,  but  charity  stays,  and,  to  snatch  a human  soul  from 
the  enemy,  will  dare  to  brush  with  her  bright  pinion  the  very 
gates  of  hell.  It  follows  that  the  separation  of  the  unfortunate  into 
“deserving”  and  “undeserving”  objects  ol  compassion  and  relief  is 
an  unjust  and  unwarrantable  one.  Philanthropy  may  recognize  the 
distinction,  but  charity  does  not.  On  the  contrary,  the  less  deserv- 
ing, in  the  secular  sense,  the  more  ardently  does  charity  clasp  the 
suppliant  to  her  bosom,  for  the  sufficient  reason  that  succor  is  most 
needed  there.  The  worship  of  humanity,  the  altruism  of  the  Comp- 
tists,  is  but  a pale  and  petty  reflection  of  the  starry  blazon  of  the  re- 
ligion of  Christ,  which  shines  full-orbed  in  the  diadem  of  the  church. 
There  is  no  objective  reality  in  the  benevolent  part  of  the  fantastic 
system  of  the  French  philosopher.  Where  are  the  eleemosynary  in- 
stitutions of  the  Positivists?  No  doubt  they  inculcate  philanthropic 
sentiments  and  in  that  way  give  encouragement  to  philanthropic 
movements  in  general,  but  in  itself  Positivism  is  as  barren  as  the  sand 
dunes  of  the  seashore  or  the  desert.  The  Materialists  proper  are 
opposed  to  every  form  of  ehari ty  and  philanthropy.  They  would 
supersede  the  higher  ethic  law  which  charity  fulfills,  by  the  purely 
physical  law,  which  ordains  that  all  who  fail  in  the  battle  of  life,  or 
fall  out  on  the  march,  should  be  left  to  their  fate.  Darwin’s  doctrine 
of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  and  Hobbes’s  theory  that  the  inevitable 
state  of  the  individual,  in  civilization  as  well  as  savagery,  is  a state 
of  internecent  war  with  his  fellow-man  are  the  gospel  of  the  sect. 
Give  the  earth  to  the  victors,  to  the  strongest  the  fittest!  The  rest 
are  eumberers  of  the  ground  and  should  be  swept  off  with  all  con- 
venient dispatch!  But  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong,  and  the  fraternity  of  men  is  a spiritual  aud 
material  fact  in  the  Christian  system,  and,  I make  bold  to  say,  a poten- 
tiality of  the  new  politics.  Charity  delights  in  redressing  the  in- 
equalities and  curbing  the  ruthlessness  of  nature.  The  moral  law  as 
formulated  in  revelation  is  after  all  the  supreme  law  in  human  affairs 
Logically  carried  out  the  theories  of  the  Materialists  would  sanc- 
tion the  infanticide  of  the  Chinese,  the  Red  Indian  abandonment  of 
the  aged,  and  the  abominations  of  sexual  depravity.  Fortunately  the 
supernatural  element  is  still  found  in  the  domestic  atmosphere  and 
the  statute  books,  for  it  is  the  salt  which  preserves  the  race  from 
corruption.  The  existence  of  public  charities  throughout  the  land, 
imperfect  and  inadequate  though  they  are,  is  proof  that  the  super- 
natural is  still  with  us,  even  in  public  affairs. 

The  powers  of  the  state  are  commensurate  with  its  duties.  It 
possesses  the  taxing  power  which  is  the  vital  thing  in  working  out 
the  problems  of  the  education  question,  the  labor  question,  and  the 
charities  question.  The  three  are  most  intimately  related,  but  the 
last  can  never  be  placed  on  a proper  footing  or  have  fair  play  until 
the  two  others  are  permanently  adjusted,  which  will  not  be  until 
they  are  fairly  adjusted  Though  her  ministrations  shall  con- 
tinue whether  the  state  act  or  not,  yet  it  is  only  when  the  state 
has  done  its  part,  that  voluntary  charity  can  hope  to  be  mistress 
of  the  work  she  has  to  do- -a  work  that  will  end  only  with  the  con- 
summation of  all  things,  for  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil 
shall  not  fail  to  take  toll  of  the  generations  on  their  pilgrimage  to 
eternity.  The  enemy  shall  continue  to  sow  tares  among  the  wheat. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


The  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  the  tragedies  of  passion  shall  con- 
tinue to  leave  their  marks  on  character  and  life.  Catastrophes,  nat- 
ural and  human,  shall  continue  to  strew  earth  and  ocean  with  wrecks 
and  ruins;  and  “the  blind  Fury  with  the  abhorred  shears”  will  not 
hold  from  slitting  the  thread  of  life,  separating  husband  and  wife, 
robbing  children  of  their  parents  and  parents  of  their  children.  The 
sphere  of  charity  we  may  be  sure  will  not  be  circumscribed  within 
too  narrow  bounds  by  the  action  of  the  state,  however  broad  and 
beneficent  that  action  may  be.  To  the  end  of  time  she  shall — 

see  ill  sights 

Of  madding  passions  mutually  inflamed; 

Must  hear  humanity  in  fields  and  groves, 

Pipe  solitary  anguish  ; or  must  hang 
Brooding  above  the  fierce  confederate  storm 
Of  sorrow  barricaded  evermore 
Within  the  walls  of  cities. 

Her  brooding  is  ever  brief,  for  action  is  the  law  of  her  life,  as 
love  its  inspiration  and  motive  power. 

Charity  apart,  I venture  to  say  that  the  labor  movement,  which 
at  first  sight  seems  a selfish  struggle  between  classes,  takes  the  fore- 
most place  among  those  developments  which  promise  to  reduce  the 
sum  of  human  misery  and  promote  the  comfort  and  well-being  of  the 
greatest  number.  It  is,  therefore,  in  substance  philanthropic,  and  in 
its  philanthropic  aspect  it  demands  patient  and  candid  examination 
by  this  enlightened  assembly.  The  poverty  of  the  laboring  popula- 
tion, and  the  boundless  possession  of  the  capitalists  and  the  million- 
aires, are  each  the  complement  of  the  other.  For  the  proper  con- 
sideration of  the  cause  now  on  trial  between  these  two  divisions  of 
society  let  us  for  the  moment  eliminate  the  intermediate  classes,  who 
have  neither  poverty  nor  riches,  but  who  have  not  to  earn  their 
bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  face.  Though  I sin  against  the  literary 
canon  by  repetition,  I will  say  once  more  that  the  same  laws  and 
systems  which  have  precipitated  a plethora  of  wealth  among  the 
capitalists  have  denuded  and  drained  the  masses  and  keep  them  in 
that  abject  condition.  The  blood  has  all  gone  to  the  head,  leaving 
the  hands  and  feet  famished  and  the  body  itself  feeble  and  emaciated. 
England  and  America  have  stretched  out  their  hands  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth  in  quest  of  cheap  labor.  First  the  coast  of  Africa  was 
explored  and  the  kidnapped  negro  was  brought  in.  The  con- 
victs of  the  mother  country  and  prisoners  of  war  were  sent  over 
here  for  a long  time,  and  forced  to  work  under  the  lash.  The  Crom- 
wellian-conquered  Irish  were  seized  by  thousands  and  transported  to 
the  plantations.  When  those  cruel  methods  fell  into  disuse,  we 
began  to  court  voluntary  immigration.  We  sent  out  emigration 
agents  to  Europe  to  entice  recruits  for  the  exhausted  ranks  of  domes- 
tic labor,  by  the  offer  of  bounties  and  the  promise  of  unlimited  posses- 
sions in  a land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  anjr  number  of  acres 
of  which  was  to  be  had  for  the  asking.  We  are  still  doing  so,  it 
seems.  We  have  crossed  the  Pacific  as  well  as  the  Atlantic  on  that 
quest.  We  have  brought  the  Chinese  here  by  virtue  of  the  Burlin- 
game treaty  which  was  negotiated  to  the  music  of  cannon,  and  now  we 
are  driving  themout  and  treating  them  generally  in  a way  which  print 
a blot  on  our  escutcheon.  We  have  let  in  the  Mormon  and  his  many 
wives.  We  annexed  a large  portion  of  Mexico  with  its  alien  popu- 
lation, not  because  we  liked  them,  but  because  we  coveted  their  lands, 
and  they  were  virtually  adscripts  glebes.  We  are  still  yearning  for 
cheaper  labor,  and  Vermont,  we  are  told,  is  on  the  point  of  sending  an 
expedition  to  the  Baltic,  to  induce  a migration  hither  of  Danes, 
Swedes,  and  Norwegians.  Not  yet  content,  our  capitalists  are  smug- 
gling in  skilled  labor,  but  why  they  should  not  be  permitted  to 
import  it  openly  as  long  as  the  present  system  lasts,  and  both  kinds, 
skilled  and  unskilled,  if  unsolicited,  are  freely  admitted,  is  an  anom- 
aly evolved  from  our  protective  system.  In  addition,  we  have  killed 
off  the  Indian,  after  seizing  his  lands,  because  we  could  not  make  him 
work.  We  made  an  environment  for  him  of  “ the  blessings  of  civil- 
ization ” which  outraged  every  precept  of  morality,  and  not  being 
able  to  live  in  that  corrosive  cortex  in  that  shirt  of  Nessus,  he  had  to 
give  way  to  the  border  ruffian  and  his  ally,  the  whiskey  smuggler, 
in  conformity  with  the  law  and  the  prophets  of  materialism.  The 
hunger  and  thirst  for  riches,  the  anri  sacra  fames , never  raged  with 
fiercer  flame  in  any  bosoms  than  our  own.  Never,  in  any  age  or 
among  any  people  was  it  more  the  ruling  passion  than  it  is  here  and 
now  and  always  has  been. 

The  typical  result  is  before  us  in  the  immense  conglomeration 
of  London,  in  which  hell  opens  her  hundred  mouths,  and  ot 
which  our  own  cities  are  so  many  microcosms. 

The  liability  of  the  employer  or  public  carrier  for  the  injury  or 
death  of  the  emploj^e  or  other  victim,  though  partially  recognized  in 
law,  is  continually  challenged  in  the  courts  to  the  scandal  of  Amer- 


ican jurisprudence.  Every  claim  of  this  kind  is  contested,  entailing 
all  the  penalties  of  tedious  litigation  on  the  unfortunate  claimant. 
vSome  summary  process  for  overcoming  what  is  practically  a denial 
of  justice  by  railroad  and  other  corporations  is  urgently  needed.  It 
is  estimated  that  the  number  of  railroad  fatalities  annually  is  about 
2,500.  The  serious  accidents  are  many  times  that  number.  Over 
3,000  seafaring  men  on  English  ships  (or  one  out  of  every  sixty)  are 
drowned  every  year,  owing  to  the  overloading,  undermanning,  and 
neglect  of  repairs.*  We  do  not  lose  so  many  because  our  ocean-going 
marine  is  such  a speck  that  no  binocular  glass  can  find  it  on  the 
high  seas.  Is  it  not  self-evident  that  the  widows  and  orphans,  and 
the  maimed  and  disabled  should  receive  ample  and  immediate  com- 
pensation from  those  in  whose  service  life  and  limb  were  lost?  That 
accumulated  wealth  and  capital,  besides  furnishing  liberal  compen- 
sation in  cases  of  fatality  and  dismemberment  should  also  contribute 
to  the  support  of  the  men  whose  disabilities  and  infirmities  have 
been  incurred  in  the  production  of  it,  is  a proposition  that  cannot 
well  be  disputed,  and  we  see  that  in  one  great  country  at  least  it  is 
the  groundwork  of  a new  system  designed  to  meet  the  necessities  of 
the  working  classes,  when  disability  from  whatever  cause,  accident, 
illness,  or  old  age,  supervenes.  The  plan  adopted  by  the  German 
government  is  insurance  by  the  joint  contributions  of  employers, 
employed,  and  the  state,  each  contributing  a third.  But  manifestly 
the  premiums  ought  to  be  paid  exclusively  by  the  employers,  because 
then  the  tax  would  be  added  to  the  price  of  the  article  produced  or 
deducted  from  the  compensation  for  the  service  performed.  The 
workman,  if  he  contributes,  should  have  the  right  to  withdraw  the 
amount  of  his  contributions  at  stated  periods.  There  are  3,861,560 
skilled  workmen,  of  whom  259,977  are  railroad  men,  now  insured 
in  Germany.  There  are  also  6,978,579  agricultural  laborers  insured. 
Denmark  and  Austria  have  begun  to  establish  similar  systems.  This 
Bismarckian  measure  is  to  me  an  economic  fact  of  the  deepest  sig- 
nificance— a precedent,  I would  say,  of  inestimable  value.  It  is  a 
partial  reading  at  least  of  the  terrible  Sphinx  riddle  of  the  age.  The 
German  law  does  not,  indeed,  cover  the  whole  ground,  but  it  brings 
the  whole  ground  within  the  domain  of  “practical  politics.”  An 
insurance  policy  of  similar  character  here  would  be  a matter  exclu- 
sively between  the  employers  and  the  workmen.  The  state  should 
do  nothing  more  than  exercise  the  same  supervision  over  it  that  it 
does  over  insurance  in  general. 

The  state  recognizes  its  philanthropic  duties,  but  only  in  a half- 
hearted, niggardly  spirit.  As  a matter  of  fact  many  of  the  burdens 
which  properly  appertain  to  the  state  are  shifted  on  the  cities,  whose 
local  charities  in  addition  are  abused  by  the  selfishness  of  rural 
communities,  which  like  some  foreign  countries  are  but  too  well 
inclined  to  expatriate  their  paupers  and  imbeciles.  But  state  philan- 
thropy should  not  be  confined  to  the  erection  and  maintenance  of 
some  asylums.  These  are  of  course  indispensable,  but  other  insti- 
tutions are  needed.  No  outdoor  relief  of  any  kind  is  provided  in 
any  case  for  any  one.  The  hospitals,  which  are  too  limited  in  num- 
ber, for  the  most  part  belong  to  the  city,  or  private  foundations,  or 
religious  charities.  Prisons  and  reformatories  are  not  charities,  but 
public  safeguards,  but  charity  should  find  free  entrance  to  them  and 
all  other  penal  institutions,  for  nowhere  else  are  her  visits  more 
needed. 

Apart  from  charities  public  and  private,  and  the  labor  move- 
ment, the  philanthropic  activities  of  the  day  include  the  sanitary, 
the  temperance,  the  educational,  and  the  peace  (international)  move- 
ments. The  last  may  have  and  I am  sure  has  our  sympathy,  but  it 
has  not  the  practical  interest  for  us  that  it  has  tor  the  European 
peoples.  With  regard  to  labor,  it  is  evident,  if  I have  not  unhappily 
spoken  in  vain,  that  not  only  the  condition  of  the  proletariat,  but 
public  policy  demands  a more  equitable  distribution  of  the  joint 
productions  of  land,  labor,  and  capital.  In  no  country,  as  far  as  I 
can  see,  is  there  any  decentralizing  action  in  the  regions  of  industry 
and  commerce  at  all  comparable  to  or  commensurate  with  the  cen- 
tralizing movement.  Cooperation  would  furnish  the  panacea,  per- 
haps, but  that  system  is  but  of  very  limited  extent  or  application 
thus  far,  and  is  evidently  of  too  slow  growth  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  the  day.  The  everlasting  cry  is  for  more  trade,  increased  out- 
put, new  markets!  Not  a word  is  said  about  a just  dispensation  of 
profits.  Our  manufactories,  b}^  some  political  art  and  craft,  are  now 
to  overleap  all  tariff  barriers  and  shake  their  cornucopiae  over  Central 
and  South  America.  So  far  so  good,  but  the  gains  are  to  flow  back 
in  the  same  old  channels,  and  settle  in  the  same  old  reservoirs  of 
the  plutocrats.  If  we  are  ”et  so  backward  in  economics  and  social 


* This  statement  was  repeatedly  made  at  the  Seaman's  Congress  held  last 
month  in  Cardiff. 


42 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


dynamics, or  let  us  say  in  scientific  politics,  as  to  be  incapable  of  start- 
ing an  outflow  by  automatical  agencies  the  equivalent  of  the  inflow, 
or  in  other  words,  if  we  are  yet  incompetent  to  provide  for  a fair 
division  of  the  fruits  of  industry  between  the  different  factors  of  pro- 
duction, we  are  at  least  able  to  provide  provisional  or  empirical  relief 
for  the  evils  of  the  existing  state  of  affairs  — for  the  maladies  most  in 
sight  — for  the  eruptions  and  spasms  which  attest  the  disordered 
constitution.  First  of  all,  we  should  extend  education.  Education 
is  not  a remedy  for  every  evil  under  the  sun,  and  a purely  secular 
education  is  seriously,  even  vitally,  deficient,  for  it  furnishes  no 
sanction  for  morals  or  conduct,  and  good  conduct  is  more  than  half 
the  battle  of  life;  but  any  training  of  the  mental  faculties  is  so 
much  added  to  the  ability  of  the  individual.  Free  night  schools  for 
adults,  free  reading  rooms,  free  libraries,  and  free  technical  schools 
for  industrial  training  now  that  apprenticeship  is  a thing  of  the  past, 
should  be  established  in  our  cities,  and  free  museums  of  art,  anti- 
quities, and  natural  history  in  our  metropolitan  cities  and  in  all 
high  schools  and  universities.  Mechanics’  institutes  would  advance 
the  cause,  but  these  should  be  founded  and  maintained  by  the 
mechanics  themselves.  All  these  things  would  promote  popu- 
lar education  and  morally  would  stand  as  a chain  of  fortresses  against 
the  saloon,  the  dance -hall  and  the  low  variety  show.  But  physical 
education  and  public  hygiene  should  also  have  a place  in  the  new 
system.  Free  swimming  baths,  gymnasia,  and  open  spaces  abound- 
ing in  shade  and  shelter,  should  be  established  wherever  needed. 
Skilled  and  unskilled  labor  have  an  equal  interest  in  these  important 
matters,  as  they  also  have  in  the  sanitary  condition  of  their  dwellings 
and  the  shops  and  establishments  in  which  the  workmen  congregate. 
If  the  workmen  used  their  ballots  to  good  purpose  every  shop  and 
every  factory,  every  dwelling,  however  humble,  every  living  room 
in  the  tenement  house,  would  be  perfect  in  plumbing,  sewerage,  and 
ventilation.  Boards  of  health  and  building  inspectors  pay  very  little 
attention  to  what  they  deem  small  matters.  It  is  to  be  hoped  the 
time  will  come  shortly,  when  landlords  aud  employers  will  be  com- 
pelled by  law  to  maintain  the  salubrity  of  their  tenants’  habitations 
and  the  working  quarters  of  their  hands.  Education  should  be  sup- 
plemented by  organization,  but  this  is  a matter  in  which  American 
labor  is  pretty  well  schooled,  though  I believe  American  working 
women  have  not  yet  fully  caught  the  inspiration.  Organization, 
enlightened  by  education  and  governed  by  sound  principles,  will  be 
able  to  give  effect  to  all  the  legitimate  demands  of  labor.  As  far  as 
I can  see,  all  these  demands  are  legitimate  and  practicable.  Reduced 
hours,  better  wages,  increased  pay  for  overtime,  the  special  protec- 
tion of  minors  and  women,  and  of  that  terribly  abused  class,  the 
sailors,  the  unlimited  liability  of  employers  in  cases  of  fatality,  the 
extension  of  technical  and  manual  training  — these  constitute  a 
platform  in  which  nothing  is  abstruse,  unjust,  or  visionary.  When 
the  means  for  accomplishing  these  results  are  canvassed  there  is, 
however,  no  unanimity.  Strikes  and  lock-outs  are  poor  expedients 
at  best,  and  if  accompanied  by  intimidation,  are  illegal  and  immoral. 
Mutiny  is  death.  A man  has  the  right  to  work  for  whom  he  will  if 
he  has  the  right  to  live.  The  one  is  the  corollary  of  the  other;  and 
when  he  is  deprived  of  that  right  through  terrorism  or  black-listing 
he  is  the  victim  of  confederate  baabarism  as  well  as  criminality. 
Arbitration  is  beginning  to  play  a leading  part  in  labor  disputes, 
and  it  ma}’  be  that  the  long-sought  solution  and  synthesis  is  to  be 
found  in  it.  In  any  event  the  laboring  community,  when  properly 
organized  and  instructed,  can  exact  their  rights  either  directly  by 
their  own  action  within  themselves,  or  indirectly  through  the  medium 
of  the  state.  Democracy,  the  ruler  of  us  all,  is  ready  to  carry  out 
their  behests,  as  soon  as  convinced  that  they  are  reasonable  and 
judicious.  Any  behests,  for  instance,' calculated  to  drive  awaj^  or 
destroy  capital — -the  wage  fund  — or  to  intimidate  the  non-unionist, 
or  black-list  the  unionist,  would  not  be  reasonable  or  judicious,  but 
offensive  to  gods  and  men  alike,  and  rebellious  to  democratic  rule. 

That  the  temperance  movement,  which  has  claims  on  every 
member  of  society,  has  peculiar  claims  on  the  sympathy  and  sup- 
port of  Catholics  is  all  but  self-evident.  The  great  apostle  of  tem- 
perance was  a Catholic  priest  and  his  mission  lay  among  a Catholic 
people.  On  the  other  side  there  are  very  many  Catholics  engaged 
in  the  dangerous  liquor  traffic.  It  is  not  my  province  to  dwell  on 
the  subject,  but  I take  the  liberty  of  applauding  the  wise  and  com- 
prehensive utterance  of  the  late  plenary  council  held  in  this  city,  on 
it.  I will  add  that  whether  higher  license  be  the  secular  solution 
of  the  question  or  not,  there  are  localities  in  all  cities  in  which  no 
saloon  should  be  permitted — localities  in  which  any  form  of  local 
option  is  but  a farce  or  a fraud.  There  are  men,  too,  of  such  evil 
notoriety  that  no  license  should  be  granted  to  them  under  any  cir- 
cumstances. The  saloons  are  altogether  too  many  and  too  flagrant. 


The  temperance  question  is  also  a religious  question — a fact  which 
the  advocates  of  extirpation  too  often  forget.  Any  vital  reform  of 
the  individual  must  spring  from  the  conscience.  No  code,  however 
wisely  framed  or  vigorously  administered,  will  suffice . of  itself  to 
abolish  inebriety,  while  the  attempt  to  do  so  might  cause  serious 
detriment  to  public  morality,  by  superinducing  illicit  traffic  and 
giving  sanction  to  hypocrisy. 

The  question  is  now,  I suppose,  on  every  tongue:  Where  is  all 
the  money  to  come  from  for  those  enlarged  public  charities,  those 
new  educational  institutions  and  appliances,  those  free  lyceums, 
libraries,  swimming  baths,  gymnasia,  parks,  public  gardens,  and 
establishments  for  giving  temporary  refuge  and  relief  to  the  able- 
bodied  destitute  and  for  utilizing  their  temporary  labor  to  that  end  ? 
Nothing  is  to  be  more  deprecated  than  the  abuse  of  outdoor  relief, 
and  I acknowledge  it  is  perpetually  liable  to  abuse.  The  creation 
of  phalansteries  of  official  lazzaroni  living  on  forced  contributions 
from  the  industry  and  property  outside  were  a consummation  to  be 
dreaded  and  abhorred,  but  such  a paradise  of  pauperism  has  not 
the  consistency  of  a madman’s  dream,  and  is  an  impossibility  even 
in  the  Utopias  of  socialism.  The  question  of  the  ways  and  means 
is  susceptible  of  a simple  solution.  The  money  should  come  from 
the  superabundant  riches  of  the  plutocrats — from  the  thirty  thou- 
sand who  own  half  the  wealth  of  the  country  and  in  the  production 
of  which  the  physical  disabilities  of  the  poor  and  their  consequent 
helplessness  were  in  the  main  contracted.  An  income  tax  would 
solve  the  problem — an  impost  from  which  salaries,  commissions,  and 
professional  incomes  should  be  exempt  and  also  all  incomes  from 
whatever  source  below  a certain  round  sum.*  The  fund  thus 
obtained  would  be  practically  a fund  for  the  compensation  of  damages 
inflicted  on  individuals  and  society  by  the  industrial  system,  and  in- 
directly by  the  law.  To  levy  a small  percentage,  say  on  all  incomes 
of  $10,000  a year  and  upwards,  would  be  no  hardship  to  Midas 
rioting  in  superfluity,  and  no  injustice  to  the  class  of  capitalists  and 
rich  men.  That  small  percentage  would  furnish  the  state  with 
ample  means  to  carry  out  the  policy  outlined  here.  Perhaps  all 
monopolies  and  public  corporations,  enriched  by  gifts  from  the  fed- 
eral government,  the  state  or  the  city,  which  pay  no  royalties, 
should  also  be  taxed  the  same  as  a “natural  person,”  care  being 
taken,  however,  not  to  tax  the  same  property  or  person  twice.  Tax- 
ation should  be  equitably  distributed,  and  therefore  no  single  tax 
can  be  an  equitable  one.  Every  kind  of  property  should  bear  its 
proper  quota  of  the  public  burden,  and  no  one  or  two  kinds  the 
whole  burden.  But  I am  not  formulating  a legislative  measure,  I 
am  merely  advocating  a policy  founded  (I  think)  on  justice.  If  the 
monopolist,  the  cattle  king,  and  the  lord  of  the  “ unearned  incre- 
ment ” on  the  surface  on  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  would  be  wise 
in  time,  they  must  not  resist  the  forthcoming  demand  for  an  in- 
come tax,  which  demand  I predict  will  be  loud  and  at  last  irre- 
sistible. True,  they  have  “charters”  and  “vested  interests,”  and 
these  must  be  religiously  respected  as  long  as  the  maintenance  of 
them  endangers  not  the  foundations  of  the  fabric.  Their  hoards 
should  be  left  intact.  Spoliation  of  any  kind,  in  any  form,  how- 
ever tempting  at  the  moment,  is  fatal  to  the  general  welfare  in  the 
end.  But  it  should  not  be  forgotten  how  the  slaveholders  were  laid 
low.  In  this  country  more  than  any  other — 

Not  heaven  itself  upon  the  past  has  power, 

but  the  state  can  make  laws  to  take  effect  from  and  after  their 
passage.  We  may  not  make  ex  post  facto  laws,  but  I refuse  to 
believe  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  bound  themselves 
perpetually  in  withes  which  they  cannot  untie  by  the  patient  con- 
stitutional processes  familiar  to  the  genesis  of  our  form  of  govern- 

*If  we  ask  how  the  great  modern  fortunes  have  been  acquired  in  this 
country,  the  answer  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  federal  government,  in  the  first 
place,  has  been  giving  rich  mining  lands  away  for  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing, 
reserving  no  power  to  compel  the  payment  of  royalties.  It  has  also  given 
many,  many  millions  of  acres  as  gifts  to  railroad  corporations,  especially  to  the 
Pacific  Railroad  Corporations,  to  whom  it  has  also  given  public  money  to  the 
extent  probably  of  8150,000,000.  If  you  ask  who  are  the  millionaires  of  the 
Pacific  coast  you  are  told  they  are  miners  and  railroad  men.  The  Pennsylvania 
and  New  England  millionaires  are  the  creation  of  our  tariff  laws.  The  tariff 
laws  account  also  for  a good  many  of  the  merchant  millionaires  of  New  York. 
Railroad  and  other  transportation  monopolies,  the  “unearned  increment’’  of 
real  estate,  city  franchises  and  bank  privileges,  usury,  account  for  most  of  the 
rest. 

Wherever  you  go,  you  fiud  the  millionaires  whom  you  hear  of  have  gas 
stocks,  railroad  stocks,  street  railroad  stocks,  patent  rights,  immense  tracts  of 
government  lands,  mines,  all  of  which  have  come  through  the  government, 
federal,  state,  or  local,  and  which  were  originally  vested  in  the  people.  It  is 
not  suggested  that  the  fortunate  possessors  should  make  restitution  to  the 
public  of  their  gains,  ill-gotten  or  otherwise,  but  that  they  should  contribute 
more  liberally  than  they  do  to  the  support  of  the  victims  of  their  rapacity. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


43 


ment-—  that  they  cannot  free  themselves  from  self-imposed  re- 
straints— which  in  course  of  time  have  become  chains  of  iron  and 
bonds  of  slavery — without  having  recourse  to  force,  that  is  to  revo- 
lution. I prefer  to  think  that  for  every  wrong  there  is  a peaceful 
remedy,  and  that  the  by  no  means  hopeless  task  of  the  statesman  is 
to  search  for  that  remedy,  and  apply  it  as  soon  as  the  public  are 
ripe  for  it.  Things  nowadays  ripen  fast,  and  ideas  which  are  un- 
justly stigmatized  as  socialistic  by  the  “vested  interests’’  (these 
have  ever  stood  as  lions  in  the  path  of  progress)  are  ripening  fast 
into  party  policies  and  social  reforms.  He  who  is  not  wilfully  blind 
can  see  that  the  future,  uncertain  and  dark  in  other  respects,  be- 
longs to  organized  labor,  unless  in  the  intoxication  of  new  power,  it 
lose  its  head  and  degenerate  into  socialism,  communism,  or  other 
anarchical  and  deadly  devolution. 

EDUCATION. 

THE  RIGHTS  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  STATE,  THE  CHURCH,  AND 
THE  PARENT  IN  THAT  REGARD. 

FIFTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  EDMUND  F.  DUNNE,  LL.  D.,  OF  FLORIDA. 

Mr.  Chairman:  Having  been  invited  by  your  committee  to 
prepare  a paper  on  “Education,’’  I suggested  that  the  subject  was 
rather  large,  and  would  they  not  give  a more  definite  idea  of  what 
they  wanted?  In  reply  they  said  : “ We  should  like  to  have  a 

distinct  declaration  of  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  state,  the  church, 
and  the  parent  in  that  regard.”  This  was  still  a very  comprehen- 
sive request.  The  only  way  I see  to  attempt  to  comply  with  it  is 
to  do  so  somewhat  literally,  by  making  my  paper  more  a declaration 
as  to  these  things,  than  an  exposition.  I may  be  able  to  declare  in 
a general  way,  in  a thirty-minute  paper,  my  idea  of  what  those 
rights  and  duties  are,  and  make  some  little  attempt  to  set  forth  some 
of  the  reasons  for  that  declaration,  but  anything  like  a complete 
setting  forth  of  those  reasons  must,  of  course,  be  looked  for  elsewhere. 

Well  then  ! The  rights  of  the  state  ! How  does  a state  come 
to  have  rights ? What  is  a state?  There  are  two  theories  about 
that;  one,  the  Catholic,  that  it  is  of  divine  origin;  the  other  the 
secular,  that  it  is  of  human  invention. 

Under  the  theory  of  divine  origin,  it  is  considered  that  when 
God  created  man,  he  contemplated  him  in  three  relations;  toward 
his  Creator,  toward  his  family,  toward  his  fellow-men.  Upon  him 
in  the  first,  He  imposed  duties;  to  him  in  the  second,  He  gave  con- 
trol; for  him  in  the  third,  He  established  rights.  Man  can  have 
no  rights  as  against  his  Creator.  Toward  Him,  only  duties.  The 
sum  of  those  duties  is  to  save  his  soul.  This  involves  religious 
duties.  These  he  is  invited  to  perform  from  love  and  gratitude,  for 
having  been  created  for  eternal  happiness,  but  which  he  is  required 
to  perform  under  pain  of  eternal  punishment. 

Having  imposed  such  duties  with  such  a terrible  penalty,  God, 
being  just,  necessarily  gave  to  man,  as  against  his  fellow-men,  an 
inherent  right  to  all  things  necessary  to  enable  him  to  perform  those 
duties,  and  therefore  the  right  that  his  fellow-men  should  not  unlaw- 
fully destroy  him;  whence,  man’s  inherent  right  to  life;  in  the  same 
way  to  liberty,  to  sustenance,  to  social  order,  and  to  the  use  of  so 
much  of  God’s  authority  over  men  and  things  in  this  world  as  might 
be  necessary  to  insure  that  order,  and  to  apply  that  authority  through 
such  forms  and  modes  of  administration  as  might  from  time  to  time 
be  found  necessary  or  convenient.  There  was  thus  the  right  of 
government,  and  the  form  of  government.  The  right  came  from 
God;  the  form  might  come  from  man. 

At  first  there  was  but  one  family,  developed  later  into  the 
patriarchal  family;  filling  a whole  region  of  country;  governed  by 
the  patriarch  as  visible  ruler;  whence  the  so-called  patriarchal  state. 
But  the  real  ruler  in  that  state  was  not  the  patriarch,  but  our  Lord 
himself,  governing  in  a direct,  personal  manner,  issuing  his  com- 
mands to  the  patriarchs,  prophets,  or  judges,  to  be  by  them  commu- 
nicated to  the  people.  Those  people  lived  under  God’s  rule  in  that 
manner  for  2,900  years,  or,  if  we  prefer,  until  1,100  years  before  the 
coming  of  our  Saviour. 

Now,  when  we  talk  of  proud  men,  from  the  beginning,  reject- 
ing God’s  rule  and  setting  up  governments  of  their  own,  we  must 
remember  that  those  words,  rejecting  God’s  rule,  are  to  be  taken 
literally.  The  Hebrews  themselves,  under  the  last  of  the  Judges, 
also  rejected  God’s  rule;  not  wholly  and  absolutely,  like  the  others, 
but  they  rejected  it  as  to  this  direct  manner  of  government,  and 
asked  for  a king  that  they  might  be  like  the  others,  as  to  form  and 
manner  of  government.  “ And  our  Lord  said  to  Samuel:  Hearken 
to  their  voice  and  make  them  a king.”  “For  they  have  not 
rejected  thee,  but  me.” — I Kings  viii,  7,  22.  And  Samuel  made 


them  a king,  and  thus  came  the  Jewish  state,  established  by  divine 
authority  and  continuing  as  a monarchy  some  500  years,  and  as  a 
province  under  different  nations  some  600  years. 

And  then  came  our  Saviour  with  the  new  dispensation.  We  all 
recognize  his  religious  action  with  regard  to  the  Jewish  church;  how 
he  amended  the  moral  code;  set  aside  the  old  ceremonial  and  with 
it  the  former  priesthood  and  the  whole  organization  of  the  Jewish 
church.  But  what  political  action  with  regard  to  the  Jewish  state, 
that  same  state  which  he  had  himself  established  1,100  years 
before?  He  reorganized  the  domestic  relation,  foundation  of  all 
state  organization;  abolished  divorce;  constituted  the  Christian  fam- 
ily, preparatory  to  the  coming  Christian  state,  and  the  Jewish  church , 
animating  spirit  and  constituent  element  of  the  Jewish  state,  hav- 
ing been  abolished,  he  naturally  abolished  also  the  Jewish  state , 
and  this  he  did  by  the  very  simple  process  of  withdrawing  its  char- 
ter, by  taking  away  its  title  to  sovereignty,  and  commanding  the 
people  to  give  their  allegiance  to  the  new  power,  the  Roman  state. 

Now,  this  Roman  state  was  pagan,  rejecting  God’s  authority; 
claiming  civil  supremacy.  In  recognizing  legitimacy  of  govern- 
ment in  the  Roman  people,  our  Saviour  recognized  that  from  them 
might  properly  come  a form  of  government,  but  as  the  right  of 
government  was  from  a higher  source,  he  rejected  their  claim  of 
civil  supremacy  and  commanded  the  people  to  distinguish  in  their 
tributes. 

That  the  people  might  know  what  things  belonged  to  God,  our 
Saviour,  before  his  crucifixion,  began  the  work  of  establishing  a 
church,  which  should  be  man’s  guide  in  this  as  in  all  other  neces- 
sary things.  He  announced  that  he  would  build  that  church  on 
Peter  and  that  to  him  should  be  given  the  keys,  thus  showing 
primacy  in  Peter.  (St.  Matthew  xvi,  18,  19.)  Also,  that  to  Peter 
was  already  given  the  perpetual  confirmation  of  faith,  thus  showing 
a separate  grant  of  infallibility  in  teaching,  to  Peter  alone,  before 
the  subsequent  grant  to  all.  (St.  Luke  xxii,  31-32.) 

After  the  resurrection,  being  with  the  apostles,  he  completed 
the  building  of  his  church,  on  Peter,  as  promised,  by  associating  the 
other  apostles  to  Peter  and  then  giving  them  the  commission  to  teach 
all  nations,  and,  that  all  might  trust  them,  promised  to  be  with 
them,  all  days,  even  to  the  consummation  of  the  world.  (St.  Matthew 
xxviii.  18-20.)  Now  those  apostles  to  whom  he  spoke  were  not  going 
to  live  to  the  end  of  the  world!  Therefore  he  spoke  to  them  and 
their  successors  in  office , thus  constituting  them  a continuing  cor- 
porate body  with  an  infallible  authority  to  guide  in  the  spiritual 
life.  That  corporate  body  is  the  Catholic  Church.  The  bishops 
are  the  successors  of  the  apostles,  and  the  Bishop  of  Rome  is  the  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter,  the  ever  continuing,  visible  head  of  the  teaching 
and  governing  church. 

And  how  does  this  church  govern?  By  addressing  its  decrees 
to  the  consciences  of  men.  And  what  is  conscience?  There  are  two 
theories  about  that,  too.  One,  the  Catholic  that  it  is  of  divine 
origin;  the  other,  the  secular,  that  it  is  of  human  invention. 

Under  the  Catholic  theory  it  is  considered  that  when  God  created 
man,  having  constituted  certain  senses  for  the  bod}'  by  which  the 
soul  might  know  the  material  world,  he  constituted  also  a sense  for 
the  soul,  by  which  man  might  know  the  spiritual  world.  By  that 
sense  the  soul  knows,  intuitively,  the  elements  of  the  divine  law  and 
distinguishes  right  from  wrong;  and  that  sense  is  conscience,  which, 
properly  understood,  is  man’s  sovereign  guide,  determining  what 
tribute  belongs  to  God  and  what  in  the  spiritual  order  may  be  ren- 
dered to  the  state. 

And  what  is  the  state,  the  political  state,  and  what  relation  does 
that  bear  to  all  these  things?  God  granted  to  man  the  use  of  power 
for  the  preservation  of  order  in  society.  The  political  state  in  any 
country  is  that  body  there  which  holds  that  power.  If  that  body 
consist  of  one  person,  then  that  person  is  the  state.  If  of  king, 
lords,  and  commons,  then  it  takes  all  three  of  them  to  make  the  state. 
If  of  people  alone,  then  those  people  are  the  state.  But  not  yet 
anywhere  have  the  whole  people  held  that  power.  Not  women,  nor 
children,  nor  idiots,  nor  the  insane,  nor  the  unenfranchised,  but 
only  those  who  vote,  and,  in  a republic,  those  voters,  taken  in  their 
associate  capacity,  constitute  the  state.  (They  are  the  political  peo- 
ple of  that  state.)  Their  rights  in  that  respect  are  political  rights; 
their  power,  political  power.  Whenever  a state  is  so  organized,  it 
is  a continuing  corporation,  drawing  its  charter  from  divine  authority. 
The  officers  of  that  corporation,  governor,  judge,  legislator,  they  are 
not  the  corporation,  they  are  only  officers.  The  governor  and  legis- 
lators of  a state  corporation  correspond  to  the  president  and  direct- 
ors of  a railroad  corporation,  and  the  voters  to  the  stockholders. 
Society  includes  all  the  people,  men,  women,  and  children. 

The  primary  function  of  the  state  is  to  preserve  order  in  society. 


44 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


The  state  is  made  for  society,  not  society  for  the  state.  God  gave 
the  use  of  political  power  to  man  as  a holy  trust  for  a sacred  pur- 
pose; not  for  temporary  good,  except  incidentally;  but  primarily, 
continuously,  and  ultimately  for  one  main  object — to  aid  in  the  attain- 
ment of  the  final  end  of  man;  therefore,  a state  can  have  no  right  to 
anything  which  in  any  way  conflicts  with  that. 

Conscience,  divinely  implanted,  enlightened  by  the  church, 
divinely  appointed,  informs  man  what  things  belong  to  Caesar  and 
what  things  belong  to  God.  And  thus  the  Catholic  theory  of  the 
divine  origin  of  the  Christian  state  ; theory  easily  workable,  wher- 
ever there  is  an  honest  desire  to  admit  the  claims  of  God,  and  to 
respect  the  rights  of  man.  It  is  that  desire  which  is  often  lacking, 
and  therefore  the  need  of  the  ever  continuing  providence  of  God,  the 
perpetual  flow  of  divine  grace,  sole  means  of  Christian  life,  and  without 
Christian  life,  no  Christian  state.  And  then  the  genesis  of  the  Christian 
state.  First,  government  by  our  Lord  himself,  until  1,100  years 
before  Christ,  then  government,  more  or  less  independent,  until  the 
coming  of  Christ,  then  the  elements  of  the  Christian  state,  lying 
for  a while  unorganized  and  passive  under  pagan  rule  ; then  acces- 
sion to  power  in  the  fourth  century,  and  organization  of  those 
elements  into  the  Christian  state,  continuing  until  the  eleventh 
century,  then  the  commencement  of  the  falling  away  of  nations,  con- 
tinuing until  the  present  day,  when  the  number  of  generally  Chris- 
tian states  is  few  indeed. 

We  have  examined  the  Christian  state.  Let  us  now  con- 
sider the  secular  state  from  the  Christian  point  of  view.  In  this 
view,  it  is  considered  that  when  God  created  man  he  gave  him  will, 
memory,  and  understanding.  Understanding  that  he  might  compre- 
hend the  law  ; memory,  that  he  might  remember  it ; will  that  he 
might — obey  it.  The  institution  of  God’s  law  established  order  in 
the  world,  and  all  was  good.  Man  was  placed  in  the  world  on  pro- 
bation. Evil  could  come  only  from  his  disobedience.  He  had 
power,  aided  by  grace,  to  use  his  will  to  resist  temptation,  and, 
through  the  atonement,  gain  eternal  life.  He  had  also  the  power  to 
permit  his  will  to  yield  to  temptation,  though  it  was  not  lawful  for 
him  to  do  so.  His  first  duty  was  to  respect  God’s  authority. 

But,  from  the  beginning,  proud  men  rejected  God’s  authority  ; 
went  out  by  themselves,  and  set  up  governments  of  their  own, 
ignoring  God,  and  so  went  on  with  ancient,  oriental,  and  occidental 
corruption,  in  Sidon,  Tyre,  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Egypt,  Greece,  and 
pagan  Rome  down  to  the  fourth  century,  when  there  was  a general 
conversion  to  Catholicity-,  and  a consequent  recognition  of  divine 
authority,  continuing  unquestioned,  in  theory,  until  the  eleventh 
century,  when  the  eastern  empire,  with  its  capital  at  Constantinople, 
rejected  God's  authority,  and,  to  a great  extent,  fell  back  to  material- 
ism, which,  in  that  oriental  clime,  under  Greek  cultivation,  devel- 
oped rapidly  until  the  fifteenth  century,  when  there  came  another 
great  event  — the  capture  of  Constantinople  by  the  Turks,  the 
destruction  of  the  eastern  empire,  and  the  driving  out  of  the  Greek 
philosophers  congregated  there.  These  philosophers  swarmed  into 
Europe,  bringing  with  them  their  philosophy- of  materialism,  essence  of 
the  renaissance,  beginningof  the  later  revolt.  They-  gathered  prin- 
cipally at  the  court  of  the  Medici,  in  Florence,  and  they-  found  there 
a congenial  spirit,  that  fine  Florentine,  Nicolo  Machiavelli,  and  in 
1532,  in  his  book,  “The  Prince,’’  came  the  first  modern  promulga- 
tion of  the  doctrine  of  civil  supremacy  ; but,  shrewder  than  most  of 
his  followers,  he  did  not  undertake  to  formulate  any-  new  theory-  as 
to  the  origin  of  society.  This  malarial  poison  in  the  body-  politic 
appeared  next  in  Switzerland,  in  Erastus,  about  1560,  and  in  Hol- 
land, in  De  Groot,  1621,  with  the  beginning  of  a theory-.  It  got 
over  into  England  in  1651,  and  appeared  in  all  possible  malignancy- 
in  Hobbes,  with  a full-blown  social  compact  theory-  accompaniment. 
Locke  had  it  in  1690.  It  then  lay-  dormant  for  seventy  years,  until 
it  broke  out  with  great  fury  in  Rousseau  in  1759,  and  the  world  has 
been  suffering  from  it  ever  since. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  secular  state  was  originally-  pagan,  bap- 
tized in  the  fourth  century-,  and  received  into  the  Christian  family  ; 
in  the  eleventh  century  began  relapsing,  and  is  now  again  essentially- 
pagan,  with  the  increased  malignancy-  of  a double  apostasy.  It  is 
error  to  say-  that  the  secular  state  comes  from  the  devil.  These  two 
existences  in  their  original  essence  both  came  from  God.  The  sim- 
ilarity- between  them  now  comes  from  their  common  rejection  of 
divine  authority.  But  the  secular  state  is  not  yet,  in  all  cases, 
judged.  Where  it  exists,  it  still  has  power  over  man.  In  such 
cases  obedience  must  be  rendered,  always,  of  course,  with  distinc- 
tion in  tribute. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  secular  state  from  its  own  point  of 
view.  In  this  view  it  is  considered  that  God  did  not  create  man; 
neither  does  he  concern  himself  with  human  affairs.  Man  is  for 


this  world  only.  He  was  originally  savage,  it  not  something  less; 
gradually  evolved  to  his  present  condition.  Conscience  is  all  a 
matter  of  education.  Pleasure  is  the  only  good.  Morality  consists 
in  obeying  the  civil  authority.  Each  citizen  surrenders  some  of  his 
individual  liberty,  and  thus  the  central  power,  the  state,  is  formed 
by  social  compact.  The  state  is  supreme;  that  is  human  liberty. 
The  majority  must  rule;  that  is  individual  liberty. 

Objections  to  This  Theory. — First:  On  its  own  theory-  the 
secular  state  has  no  right  to  rule,  because  it  denies  God,  and  there 
is  no  authority  except  from  God.  But  the  w-hole  theory  is  false. 
All  history  shows  that  no  state  was  ever  originally  established  by 
social  compact,  and  philosophy-  convinces  that  authority-  to  govern 
created  beings,  with  power  over  them  of  life,  and  death,  can  come 
only-  from  the  Creator  of  those  beings.  Second:  It  has  no  guaranty 
for  liberty-.  The  sceptre  has  long  been  the  symbol  of  sovereignty; 
a little  wand  of  a cubit’s  length,  held  in  the  hand,  gilded,  whence 
the  “golden  rod”  of  authority.  When  this  rod  smites  unlawful 
disobedience,  that  is  government.  When  it  smites  unjustly,  that  is 
tyranny.  When  kings  became  tyrannical,  lords  came  forward. 
When  king  and  lords  became  tyrannical,  the  commons  developed. 
When  king,  lords,  and  commons  became  tyrannical,  then  rose  the 
mighty  people.  The  people  wield  this  sceptre  through  the  hand  of 
the  majority.  When  the  majority  becomes  tyrannical,  what  then? 
Self-regeneration  ? Show  one  example ! Third:  The  secular 
theory-,  ignoring  God,  has  no  standard  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
therefore  can  have  no  sense  of  justice.  Illustration:  Its  denial 
of  parental  rights  in  education;  denial  costing  Catholics  here  $10, 
oo'o,ooo  a year,  now,  with  only  one-fourth  of  their  children  edu- 
cated; $40,000,000  for  all;  in  ten  years,  $400,000,000;  in  twenty- 
five  years,  $1,000,000,000.  A serious  matter.  I do  not  say  that 
our  state  is  secular;  God  forbid.  But  our  legislators  are  already 
beginning  to  do  some  things  in  the  secular  manner,  in  the  matter  of 
education.  I think  that  in  this  they  have  not  represented  the  will 
of  the  state,  and  that  their  action  will  be  revised. 

How  far  must  the  action  of  our  legislators  in  the  matter  of  edu- 
cation be  revised  ? How  far  'may  the  state  go  in  the  matter  of  edu- 
cation ? The  state  may  go,  in  all  things,  tow-ard  the  preservation 
of  order,  until  it  is  stopped  by  natural  law,  by  natural  rights,  the 
absolute  rights  of  man.  The  inherent  rights  of  life  and  liberty  are 
absolute  only  after  a certain  limit  of  diminution  is  reached.  They- 
are  subject  to  so  much  diminution  as  may  be  necessary  for  social 
order.  The  inherent  right  of  parental  control  in  education  is  abso- 
lute, because  diminution  of  it  can  never  be  necessary  for  order.  The 
seeming  exception  in  case  of  mental  or  moral  incompetency  to  con- 
trol is  not  a real  exception,  because  there  is  not  there  a real  control. 

In  the  very-  nature  of  the  case  a parent  is  responsible  to  God  for 
the  soul  of  his  child.  Because  of  this,  God,  for  the  protection  of 
the  parent,  makes  his  right  to  the  control  of  the  education  of  that 
child  absolute,  so  that  none  may-  touch  it,  and  for  the  protection  of  the 
child.  He  makes  that  right  inaltenable,  so  that  the  parent  may  have 
no  power  to  transfer  it,  so  that  the  child  may  have  the  security  of 
the  parent’s  soul  that  his  education  will  be  safely  guarded;  therefore, 
the  state  may  never  compel  the  parent  to  send  his  child  to  any 
school  of  which  the  parent  disapproves,  nor  can  the  parent  in  con- 
science surrender  his  child  to  the  state. 

And  why  should  the  state  ask  for  the  child  ? What  can  it  do 
with  it?  It  cannot  educate  it ! It  has  no  pow-er  in  that  direction. 
The  pow-er  of  the  state  was  given  for  order  alone.  It  deals  only  with 
the  body.  It  may- not  touch  the  soul.  But  may  it  not  instruct  the 
mere  mind  of  the  body  in  secular  things?  There  is  no  mere  mind 
of  the  body  in  man.  In  man  there  is  only-  body-  and  soul,  and  you 
cannot  teach  children,  even  the  multiplication  table,  by-  a Godless 
teacher,  in  a Godless  school,  with  Godless  surroundings,  w-ithout 
hurting  the  soul.  The  soul  may  be  slain  by  famine  as  well  as  by 
violence.  Education  does  not  mean  to  lead  out,  but  to  lead  vip;  to 
nourish,  to  feed,  to  perfect.  The  state  cannot  feed  the  soul;  but 
if  the  soul  be  not  fed,  there  is  no  education.  And  the  soul,  like 
the  body,  must  have  its  daily  food,  but  unlike  the  body,  it  absorbs 
its  forming  influences  at  every-  wakeful  moment,  and,  in  the  forming 
age,  those  influences  should  all  be  “ airs  from  heaven.” 

Insolent  secularists  say-  two  hours  a w-eek  will  suffice,  and  they 
have  tried  it,  and  w-e  know-  the  result,  and  we’ll  none  of  it!  We  ask 
full  education  for  all,  but,  failing  that,  as  to  our  own  little  ones,  “an 
oath”  we  have,  “an  oath  in  heaven,”  that,  henceforth,  their  souls 
at  least  shall  have  their  daily  food. 

And  let  not  secularists  lay-  the  flattering  unction  to  their  souls 
that  Catholics  do  not  want  this  of  themselves;  that  they-  ask  for  it 
only-  because  the  Pope  bids  them  do  so.  Ah!  my  secular  friends, 
you  know  but  little  of  Catholic  faith,  of  Catholic  life,  of  Catholic 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


45 


aspirations  ! Every  time  you  open  your  mouths  as  to  these  things 
you  show  your  ignorance;  ignorance  gross,  palpable,  profound. 
Catholics  have  consciences!  They  know  they  have  souls.  They 
know  they  must  fit  their  children  for  an  immortal  life,  and  because 
of  that  they  demand  equal  rights  in  the  application  of  the  means 
which  God  has  furnished  for  that  purpose.  In  this  they  ask  but  for 
justice,  the  great  natural  right  of  every  human  soul,  that  no  bar  be 
placed  in  the  path  to  its  heavenly  home.  And  shall  they  not  have 
justice?  The  state  which  demands  education,  which  collects  money 
by  public  tax  and  pays  that  money  out  for  teaching,  must  pay 
equally  all  who  teach.  How  dare  it  discriminate  ? How  dare  it 
keep  public  money  for  special  favorites?  If  a share  of  a public  fund 
for  distribution  of  food  for  the  body  were  denied  to  some  because  of 
their  religion,  it  would  be  denounced  by  all  as  monstrous.  Denial 
of  food  for  the  soul  is  worse.  It  is  diabolical.  But  the  state  cannot 
pay  teachers  who  teach  religion!  Why  not?  Has  it  then  such  a 
hatred  for  religion?  How  dare  it  discriminate  against  religion? 
How  dare  the  state  try  to  destroy  religion,  the  only  hope  of  liberty  ? 

But  a denominational  system  would  not  work  well!  Why  not? 
It  works  well  elsewhere,  why  not  here.  And  the  present  Godless 
system!  Does  that  work  well?  A system  which  in  a Christian  land 
forbids  Christian  teaching!  Is  not  that  a disgrace?  A scandal  to 
the  world?  A mockery  of  free  institutions?  A failure  of  republi- 
can government?  The  monarchies  of  Europe  show  more  regard  for 
human  rights.  Imperial  England  gives  a freedom  in  education 
which  republican  America  denies!  Even  Protestant  Ontario  laughs 
at  us  to  see  that  we  are  so  far  behind  the  age  in  this,  the  greatest 
question  of  the  day.  And  yet  our  sapient  legislators  think  they 
cannot  be  instructed  in  this  matter!  They  mistake  their  duty! 
They  mistake  also  the  temper  of  the  American  people.  The  great 
heart  of  America  still  yearns  for  liberty,  the  largest  liberty  and  the 
fullest  justice,  and  the  public  men  who  will  not  give  it  must  make 
way  for  those  who  will.  The  America  of  to-day  and  of  the  future 
is  not  simply  one  of  the  old  colonies,  cold-hearted,  narrow-minded, 
persecuting,  enlarged  in  area,  unchanged  in  spirit.  No.  It  is  the 
later  gathering  here  of  new  lovers  of  liberty,  congregated  millions 
of  new  races  of  men,  with  hearts  all  aglow  with  the  sacred  flame  of 
freedom,  minds  broadened  by  contemplation  of  the  illimitable 
grandeur  of  the  country  under  their  control,  souls  filled  with  the 
noble  resolve  to  make  America  in  very  deed  and  truth  the  home  of 
liberty,  the  abode  of  justice,  the  domain  of  law,  the  world’s  great 
sanctuary  of  inalienable  human  rights.  That’s  the  America  that  is 
coming  in  this  country,  and  the  little  bigots  of  to-day  will  be  pro- 
tected in  their  liberties  then  only  by  invoking  the  very  principles  of 
justice  they  now  seek  to  destroy. 

Our  legislators  have  missed  the  true  dividing  line  between  state 
and  human  rights.  All  rights  of  the  state  in  the  last  analysis 
come  to  this,  the  right  to  preserve  order.  Laws  for  life  and  liberty 
are  for  order.  Laws  for  property  and  development  are  for  order  in 
acquisition  and  method  in  development.  Morality  is  the  only 
foundation  of  order.  Therefore  the  state  not  only  may  but  must 
assist  in  the  production  of  morality.  It  must  do  it  or  die,  for  with- 
out morality  order  is  impossible,  and  without  order  the  state  cannot 
live.  There  can  be  no  morality  without  religion.  Therefore  the 
state  which  wars  upon  religion  undermines  its  own  foundation — pre- 
cipitates its  own  destruction.  Moral  culture  is  of  more  importance 
to  the  state  than  any  other.  Instruction  which  does  not  give  it  is 
not  education.  Therefore  the  state  should  encourage  education  full 
and  complete.  To  aid  in  education  the  state  may  endow  schools 
and  assist  teachers,  but,  itself  to  teach?  No!  That  is  beyond  its 
charter,  beyond  its  rights,  beyond  its  power.  The  right  of  the  state 
to  expend  public  money  for  public  welfare  is  quite  reconcilable  with 
this  theory  of  government  for  order  only,  and  it  is  only  on  this 
theory  that  those  expenditures  can  be  kept  within  a limit  which  will 
be  just  to  the  toiling  millions  who  produce  the  money  that  legisla- 
tors like  to  spend.  If  the  state  would  expend  half  as  much  for  mor- 
ality as  it  does  for  vanity  everything  would  be  in  better  condition. 

The  state  recognizes  natural  law,  but  governs  through  civil  law. 
And  how  does  this  matter  of  education  stand  under  civil  law? 
Long  before  our  independence,  states  were  established  here,  with 
constitutions  fixed  by  royal  charter.  Those  states  were  not  com- 
pletely sovereign,  but  recognition  of  independence  recognized  com- 
plete sovereignty.  Some  changes  were  then  made  in  the  constitutions 
of  those  states  as  to  the  manner  of  exercising  their  sovereignty;  a 
confederation  of  all  was  entered  into,  succeeded  by  abandonment  of 
confederation  and  the  establishment  of  a common  national  govern- 
ment with  voluntary  surrender  by  the  states  not  of  some  of  their 
sovereignty,  but  of  their  sovereignty  as  to  some  things,  with  retention 
pf  it  as  to  all  other  things. 


Under  this  double  sovereignty  we  have  to  face  two  states  in 
this  matter,  the  local  state  and  the  national  state.  Our  national 
state  from  early  days  guaranteed  religious  liberty  to  all  its  citizens, 
but  only  as  against  its  own  legislation.  (Pertnoli’s  case,  3d  How- 
ard.) Any  local  state  might  deny  religious  liberty.  Some  of  them 
did  so.  A few  years  ago  the  local  states  made  a further  surrender 
of  sovereignty,  in  the  fourteenth  amendment  providing  that,  ‘ ‘ No 
state  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which  shall  abridge  the  privi- 
leges or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States.”  Are  not  the 
local  states  barred  now  as  to  any  religious  legislation  as  much  as 
congress  was  before?  Can  present  local  inhibitions  of  religious 
instruction  be  now  enforced? 

Secularists  ask  national  amendments  permitting  prohibition  of 
parochial  schools.  Such  amendments  would  be  revolution.  Amend- 
ments may  be  legitimately  engrafted  on  a constitution  only  when 
congruous  with  its  spirit.  A rejection  of  principles  is  not  growth, 
but  change,  and  change  is  revolution,  whether  peaceably  or  forcibly 
effected.  An  amendment  making  the  presidency  hereditary  in  the 
family  of  the  present  incumbent  would  be  change,  not  growth; 
revolution,  not  development.  Catholics  are  forbidden,  in  conscience, 
to  change  governments  lawfully  established,  except  where  by  failure 
in  duty  they  forfeit  title. 

Mr.  Chairman,  There  is  another  right  of  the  state,  forced  into 
this  discussion  by  misrepresentation  of  our  opponents,  the  right  of 
allegiance.  Our  secular  friends  charge  that  we  hold  our  allegiance 
subject  to  the  Pope;  thar  we  teach  that  doctrine  in  our  schools,  and 
that  the  Pope  is  infallible;  that  those  schools  are  thus  a menace  to 
the  state;  wherefore,  the  state  has  a right  to  suppress  them.  The 
American  people  are  too  well  accustomed  to  misrepresentations  in 
political  contests  te  believe  any  grave  charge  merely  because  it  is 
made;  still,  they  like  to  hear  the  answer. 

In  this  charge  secularists  confuse  many  things.  They  confuse 
supervision  of  souls  with  supervision  of  nations ; infallibility 
asserted  with  infallibility  denied,  and  the  ages  of  faith  with  the  days 
of  unbelief,  and  from  all  this  confusion,  darkness  of  understanding; 
but,  as  to  Catholic  matters,  that  is  the  normal  condition  of  the  secu- 
lar mind.  Let  us  try  to  enlighten  it  a little  on  this  point.  Super- 
vision of  souls  is  teaching,  in  which  we  assert  infallibility.  Super- 
vision of  nations  is  governing,  in  which  we  deny  infallibility.  Super- 
vision of  nations  was  exercised  only  in  the  ages  of  faith,  when  not 
one  alone,  but  all  Christian  nations,  were  Catholic,  all  willingly  sub- 
mitting to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  See.  That  supervision  ceased 
when  that  condition  ceased,  and  cannot  be  renewed  until  that  condi- 
tion returns.  It  was  oidy  in  the  exercise  of  supervision  of  nations 
that  the  question  of  allegiance  arose;  hence  it  cannot  arise  here. 

There  is  another  reason  why  it  cannot  arise  here.  That  ques- 
tion arose  only  where  the  people  were  not  the  state;  where  the  king 
was  the  state  and  became  a tyrant,  and  his  subjects,  groaning  under 
oppression,  wanted  to  depose  him,  but,  as  Catholics,  felt  bound  to 
submission  by  their  oath  of  allegiance.  Allegiance  is  a term  of 
feudal  law.  It  represented  not  a principle,  but  an  individual  obliga- 
tion raised  by  special  contract  to  give  military  aid  to  a superior  in 
return  for  protection ; obligation  solemnizea  by  an  oath.  The  contract 
broken  by  the  superior,  the  liegeman  was  released.  When  the  people 
believed  the  king  had  broken  his  contract,  they  did  not  take  it  upon 
themselves  to  judge,  but  appealed  to  the  Pope.  The  Pope  opened 
the  great  tribunal  of  nations;  both  sides  were  heard,  as  in  any  other 
court,  and,  when  the  Holy  Father  decided  in  favor  of  the  people,  he 
simply  set  them  free.  The  rest  they  did  themselves. 

Here  we  are  always  free.  We  are  ourselves  the  state,  and  if 
there  shall  be  tyrants  here  to  depose,  it  will  have  been  our  own 
fault,  and  so  long  as  we  hold  all  power  in  our  own  hands,  all  the 
popes  that  ever  lived  and  ruled  in  Rome,  by  all  the  power  of  super- 
vision of  nations  they  ever  wielded,  could  not,  would  not,  and  — 
ought  not  help  us.  God  himself  does  not  save  those  who  will  not 
help  themselves.  But  our  secular  friends  do  not  give  up  so  easily. 
They  have  another  cry.  They  say,  ‘‘Grant  all  that,  the  Pope  still 
controls  the  consciences  of  Catholics,  and  that  amounts  to  the  same 
thing.”  These  men  seem  not  to  know  what  conscience  is.  Con- 
science is  a faculty  of  the  soul.  It  may  be  enlightened;  it  cannot 
be  controlled.  God  himself  does  not  control  it.  Conscience  does 
not  make  a man  do  right  no  more  than  it  makes  him  do  wrong. 
Conscience  is  the  eye  of  the  soul,  by  which  it  reads  the  moral  law, 
and  tells  man  what  is  right,  and  what  is  wrong.  Then  the  man 
must  exercise  his  will  upon  the  matter,  and  do  wrong  at  his  peril. 

Then  our  secular  friends  get  desperate,  and  shout:  ‘‘Well, 
then,  he  controls  the  will.  He  controls  everything.  Catholics  are 
slaves  to  the  Pope.  They  do  whatever  he  tells  them.”  Is  it  possi- 
ble? Italy  has  29,000,000  people,  25,000,000  of  them  Catholic; 


46 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


France,  38,000,000,  35,000,000  of  them  Catholic  — both  governments 
violently  persecuting  the  Pope.  Why,  then,  does  not  the  Pope  tell 
his  Catholics  to  destroy  those  governments?  What  a profound 
contempt  for  American  intelligence  secular  leaders  must  have! 

But,  some  may  say,  There  is  a point  you  do  not  touch.  You 
say  Catholics  admit  the  Pope  to  be  infallible  in  teaching;  therefore 
you  will  always  do  what  he  says  is  right,  no  matter  what  your  con- 
science says.  To  this  objection  I have  three  answers:  1.  I deny 
the  conclusion.  2.  One  who  is  in  good  faith  in  this  objection  will 
go  to  our  authorities,  and  study  the  subject,  and  then  he  will  with- 
draw the  objection.  3.  To  one  not  in  good  faith  I say,  Safer  as  a 
citizen  is  a Catholic  with  a God,  a conscience,  and  a director  even 
in  Rome,  than  a secularist  who  ignores  God,  admits  no  conscience 
save  such  as  he  makes  himself  for  his  own  use,  and  acknowledges 
no  authority  but  his  own  desires.  Such  a man  is  a moral  monster, 
dangerous  to  the  state,  to  society,  even  to  his  friends. 

Secular  leaders  further  show  their  contempt  for  American  intel- 
ligence in  this.  At  the  same  time  that  they  try  to  frighten  non-Cath- 
olics  here  with  the  bugbear  of  the  Pope,  they  try  to  frighten  us  with 
the  threat  that  if  we  do  not  keep  quiet  about  this  they  will  give  us 
the  persecution  of  infidel  France!  Oh!  my  secular  friends!  That  cry 
does  not  frighten  any  one  here.  We  know  that  in  some  things  you 
are  wise  enough;  that  you  know  very  well  that  America  is  not 
France;  that  the  French  peasant  is  not  the  American  citizen,  born 
in  the  air  of  freedom,  nurtured  in  the  atmosphere  of  independence, 
filled  with  the  American  idea  to  yield  up  to  tyrants  no  single 
human  right,  though  the  heavens  fall. 

This  power  of  supervision  of  nations  was  never  exercised  in 
minor  matters;  only  in  the  great  crises  of  nations;  never  dreaded, 
save  by  tyrants;  employed  only  in  behalf  of  liberty  and  justice. 
Secular  history  does  not  read  that  way.  Oh,  no!  Secular  history 
for  the  last  300  years  has  been  a conspiracy  to  suppress  Catholic 
truth,  and  because  of  that  non-Catholic  Americans  to-day  are,  in 
religious  matters  touching  the  Catholic  Church,  the  most  intellect- 
ually deceived  and  enslaved  of  any  people  that  ever  lived  on  earth. 
After  300  years  of  secular  history,  after  more  than  40,000  pages  of 
that  sort  of  stuff,  written  on  the  very  subject  in  question,  even  the 
Athens  of  America  had  not  yet  found  out  what  an  “'indulgence” 
was.  And  now,  that  point  passed,  they  want  to  take  the  same 
stand  in  this  matter  of  allegiance.  How  to  be  patient  with  such 
people.  Is  it  ignorance,  or  is  it  malice?  I will  not  answer  malice  in 
this  matter.  It  were  beneath  our  dignity  to  do  so;  but  there  are  a 
great  many  good,  easy-going  non-Catholics  around  us  who,  if  inno- 
cent of  malice,  are  also  innocent  of  information  with  regard  to  us, 
and  who  really  know  less  about  Catholics  here  than  they  think  they 
do  about  the  transportation  system  of  the  planet  Mars.  The}'  do 
read  all  that  is  written  about  that,  but  they  never  read  Catholic 
accounts  about  us.  They  never  see  our  papers  and  our  books. 
They  don’t  know  we  have  any  books,  except  maybe  a few  prayer 
books.  They  know  we  have  no  Bibles.  Secular  history  teaches 
that.  And  so,  with  silence  toward  malice,  I will,  for  the  benefit 
of  these  good,  innocent  people,  say  a few  words  to  show  them 
why  Catholics  are  likely  to  have  at  least  as  much  regard  for  this 
country  as  any  other  people  here. 

Why  then  should  we  not  love  this  land?  Is  it  not  our  own? 
Is  it  not  Columbia?  Daughter  of  Catholic  thought;  of  Catholic 
wealth;  of  Catholic  courage.  And  this  magnificent  city,  beautiful 
Baltimore.  Has  it  not  also  a Catholic  name,  that  of  its  great 
Catholic  lord  proprietor?  And  this  state  we  are  in.  Is  it  not 
Maryland?  Our  old  Catholic  colony.  Terra  Maria;.  First  home 
here  of  Christian  liberty. 

Is  not  this  whole  country  really  a Catholic  land  ? Is  it  not 
under  the  care  of  Catholic  saints  ? Are  not  their  holy  names  borne 
by  more  than  three  hundred  American  cities,  from  shore  to  shore, 
from  mountain  to  the  sea?  St.  Augustine  guards  the  Atlantic  coast! 
St.  Francis  sits  by  the  Golden  Gate!  Far  in  the  north  the  great  St. 
Paul  keeps  watch  and  ward!  On  the  gulf,  at  either  side,  sweet 
San  Antonio  safely  guides!  In  the  heart  of  the  land  St.  Louis,  king 
and  saint!  St.  Joseph  near,  and  on  the  hither  side,  our  gracious 
lady,  Notre  Dame,  queen  of  all! 

With  a Catholic  people,  this  land  were  surely  Catholic.  Well, 
we  have  12,000,000  Catholic  people!  12,000,000!  Four  times  the 
whole  population  of  this  whole  country,  when  British  tyranny  was 
hurled  from  the  land!  12,000,000  Catholics  now — and  of  them, 
the  end  is  not  yet!  Have  we  not  everywhere  Catholic  churches, 
Catholic  schools,  Catholic  convents,  Catholic  colleges,  and  now 
our  grand  Catholic  university,  with  that  noble  band  of  Catholic 
men,  who  have  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Ark  and  Dove  to  hold 
aloft  here  the  great  beacon  lights  of  Catholic  truth!  I know  our 


people  will  give  them  welcome,  such  a welcome  as  men  in  a strange 
land  never  received  before.  And  of  educators,  remember  the  great- 
est of  all,  one  without  whose  aid  vain  were  all  our  efforts  in  this 
fight,  our  gallant  Catholic  press. 

And  we  do  not  forget  to  whom,  under  God,  mainly  we  owe  all 
this,  the  priests  and  bishops  of  our  church;  to  their  apostolic  efforts; 
their  heroic  courage;  their  patient  care;  their  noble  lives  lived  only 
for  us  — and  for  God.  We  gladly  yield  them  homage;  homage 
which  gives  them  pleasure  only  as  it  gives  them  hope;  hope,  that 
what  they  won  here  by  toil  and  care  in  days  gone  by,  we,  by  faith 
and  work  will  safely  keep  through  all  the  years  to  come.  And  there 
is  no  fear  of  that!  The  Catholic  seal  is  set  on  this  land — forever. 

And  yet  the  Holy  Father  would  destroy  all  this!  Would  break 
down  the  government  which  guarantees  all  this!  The  Holy  Father! 
He  who  lashes  the  so-called  Catholic  governments  of  Europe,  telling 
them  that  nowhere  does  he  enjoy  his  rights  so  much  as  under  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States!  And  he  would  withdraw  our 
allegiance  from  this  country!  And  these  be  thy  guides,  O America! 
But  in  vain  will  they  impugn  the  great  fact  of  Catholic  allegiance. 
Loyalty  to  authority  is  the  brightest  jewel  in  the  Catholic  crown; 
one  that  Catholics  will  never  surrender. 

We  bring  to  our  country  the  allegiance  common  to  all,  but, 
beyond  that,  we  bring  also  the  grand  tribute  that  only  Catholic 
hearts  know  how  to  give;  the  loyalty  of  Catholic  souls;  a loyalty 
which  does  not  grovel  on  the  selfish  plane  of  mere  secular  submis- 
sion, but  soars  above  it  in  the  lofty  realm  of  heavenly  sanction!  Our 
church  is  mother  of  the  noblest  loyalty.  She  sanctifies  authority, 
and  so  makes  allegiance  holy!  We  rally  round  the  flag  of  our 
country  not  alone  from  love  and  civil  duty,  but  also  because  of  a 
divinely  implanted  conscience;  motive  beyond  the  comprehension 
of  these  secular  disciples  of  cosmic  evolution;  men  whose  hearts’ 
desiie  it  is  to  destroy  the  Catholic  Church.  Misguided  men!  They 
think  to  serve  the  cause  of  liberty;  but  when  the  great  social 
struggle  comes  in  this  country — and  it  is  coming — ‘‘Slowly  comes  a 
hungry  people,  like  a lion,  creeping  nigher  ” — when  that  struggle 
comes,  woe  betide  the  spirit  of  liberty  if  the  Catholic  Church  be  not 
there  to  save;  to  curb  the  raging  hearts  of  frenzied  men;  to  preach 
to  them,  with  Pentecostal  fire  and  with  the  majesty  of  divine 
authority,  that  vengeance  belongs  alone  to  God. 

We  know  that  the  church  will  be  there.  She  saw  the  beginning 
of  all  and  will  see  the  end  of  all,  and  through  all  will  be  as  she  has 
always  been,  the  friend  of  order,  mother  of  morals,  saviour  of  men. 
And  our  schools,  they  will  also  be  there!  They  shall  not  be 
destroyed!  ( Tremendous  applause,  the  delegates  rising  and  cheer- 
ing vociferously  for  several  minutes,  during  which  the  speaker 
retired.) 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  Judge  Dunne’s  remarks  the  congress 
took  a recess  for  thirty  minutes. 

AFTER  RECESS. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  recess  the  Convention  resumed  its  ses- 
sion. 

The  chair  appointed  the  Committee  on  Future  Congresses  as 
follows:  James  H.  Dormer,  Buffalo;  M.  W.  O’Brien,  Detroit;  H. 
J.  Spaunhorst,  St.  Louis;  Patrick  Farrelly,  New  York;  M.  D. 
Fansler,  Fort  Wayne;  John  D.  Keily,  Jr.,  Brooklyn;  Hon.  Morgan 
J.  O’Brien,  New  York;  John  Boyle  O’Reilly,  Boston;  Thomas  J. 
Semmes,  New  Orleans;  William  J.  Onahan,  Chicago;  Edmund  F. 
Dunne,  San  Antonio,  Fla.;  M.  J.  Harson,  Providence,  R.  I.;  Will- 
iam L.  Kelly,  St.  Paul;  Daniel  Dougherty,  New  York. 

Mr. Onahan:  ‘‘I  move,  Mr.  President  and  gentlemen,  that  the 
name  of  the  chairman  of  this  convention  be  placed  at  the  head  of 
that  committee.  I will  put  the  motion  to  the  congress.” 

The  question  was  put  and  the  motion  was  agreed  to  unani- 
mously. 

Mr.  Donohue,  of  Maine:  “ In  order  to  give  expression  to  the 
great  gratitude  we  feel  for  the  able  and  instructive  address  of  Judge 
Dunne,  I move  that  by  a rising  vote  a vote  of  thanks  be  extended 
to  that  gentleman.” 

The  vote  was  taken,  and  the  convention  arose  en  masse. 

Mr. Onahan:  ‘ ‘I  move  that  the  resolution  presented  here  by  the 
gentleman  from  Indiana  which  went  to  the  committee  on  resolutions 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


47 


be  referred  to  the  committee  on  future  congresses;  it  more  properly 
comes  within  the  province  of  that  committee.  ’ ’ 

The  Chairman:  “It  will  be  so  referred  if  there  be  no  objec- 
tion.’’ 

The  committee  appointed  to  wait  upon  the  president  of  the 
United  States  through  its  chairman,  Mr.  Joseph  J.  O' Donohue,  of 
New  York,  reported  as  follows; 

Mr.  Joseph  J.  O’  Donohue,  of  New  York:  “The  distinguished 
honor  was  conferred  upon  me  and  fourteen  other  gentlemen  of  ap- 
pointment by  this  body  to  wait  upon  the  president  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  extend  to  him  an  invitation  to  be  present  at  this 
meeting.  I am  proud  to  say  he  received  us  cordially  and  hand- 
somely. (Applause.)  If  it  were  not  for  the  duties  that  are  now  imposed 
upon  him  in  preparing  his  message,  he  sends  back  word  through 
this  committee,  he  would  be  only  too  happy  to  be  present.  But  he 
says  to-morrow  he  wants  to  be  with  you  at  the  opening  of  the  Cath- 
olic university.  (Applause.)  I felt  highly  honored  as  a Catholic 
to  hear  him  express,  and  very  feelingly,  too,  that  this  congress 
would  do  a great  deal  of  good,  and  he  approved  not  only  of  this, 
but  of  all  other  congresses  of  the  same  character.  (Applause.) 
Mr.  Chairman,  that  is  all  I have  to  say  in  reporting  from  your  com- 
mittee. I move  the  adoption  of  the  report.’’ 

The  report  was  adopted  unanimously. 

THE  CATHODIC  PERIODICAL  PRESS. 

SIXTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  GEORGE  DERING  WOLFF,  LL.D.,  OF 

NORRISTOWN,  PA. 

Your  Eminence,  Most  Reverend  and  Right  Reverend  Archbishops 
and  Bishops,  Very  Reverend  and  Reverend  Fathers,  Mr.  President,  and 
Gentlemen:  Your  committee  have  honored  me  with  the  request  to 
prepare  a paper  ou  “The  Catholic  Periodical  Press,”  to  be  read 
before  this  assembly.  I attempt  the  task  willingly,  yet  with  unaffected 
diffidence,  for  I realize  its  delicacy  and  its  difficulty,  as  well  as  its 
importance. 

In  the  thoughts  which  I propose  to  present,  I shall  confine 
myself  almost  entirely  to  Catholic  newspapers,  or,  as  they  might 
more  properl)'  be  styled,  Catholic  journals.  For  as,  with  but  very 
few  exceptions,  they  are  published  only  once  a week,  their  reports 
of  current  events  are  anticipated  by  daily  newspapers,  and  cannot, 
therefore,  have  the  freshness  and  novelty,  usually  attached  to  the 
word  ‘ 1 news.  ’ ’ 

In  thus  confining  the  scope  of  my  intended  remarks,  two  con- 
siderations influence  me.  In  the  first  place,  considering  the  neces- 
sarily restricted  limits  as  regards  time  and  space,  of  this  paper,  I do 
not  think  I have  misinterpreted  the  intention  of  your  committee. 
Secondly,  the  number  of  Catholic  periodicals  that  are  published 
quarterly  or  monthly,  is  comparatively  small.  Moreover,  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  they  more  closely  approximate  the  ideal  of  a 
truly  Catholic  periodical  than  do  Catholic  weekly  journals,  and  are, 
therefore,  less  open  to  criticism. 

Of  the  immense  power  of  the  press,  and  more  particularly  of 
the  newspaper  press,  in  the  United  States,  it  is  needless  to  speak. 
To  dilate  upon  it  would  only  be  to  repeat  acknowledged  truisms. 
The  issues  of  the  newspaper  press  penetrate  into  every  village  and 
hamlet  and  family  in  our  vast  country.  Their  statements  and 
expressions  of  opinions  are  read  with  avidity,  and  affect,  for  good  or 
for  evil,  almost  every  one,  powerfully  influencing  his  thoughts,  feel- 
ings and  actions.  They  are  made  the  subject  of  constant  conversa- 
tion and  comment;  are  quickly  communicated  to  the  few  who,  in  this 
age  and  country,  are  unable  to  read,  or  to  read  with  facility,  and  thus 
they  mould  the  opinions  and  character  even  of  the  illiterate.  In  short, 
the  press,  and  particularly  the  newspaper  press,  is  to-day  the  might- 
iest human  instrumentality  that  man  can  employ.  Its  power, 
immense  and  far-reaching,  has  been  recognized  and  emphatically 
referred  to  by  sovereign  pontiffs  of  the  church,  especially  by  our 
late  Holy  Father,  Pius  IX,  and  by  his  successor,  Leo  XIII.  Speak- 
ing of  how  the  power  of  the  press  has  been  perverted  to  wrong  ends 
and  employed  by  the  adversaries  of  true  religion  to  malign  the 
church,  and  especially  the  Holy  See,  our  sovereign  pontiff,  Leo 
XIII,  said  to  a deputation  of  Catholic  journalists,  whom  he  received 
on  February  23d,  1879: 


‘ ‘ A person  would  not  deviate  far  from  the  truth  were  he  to 
ascribe  this  deluge  of  evils  and  the  miserable  condition  of  the  times 
to  the  wickedness  of  the  press.” 

But  as  every  instrumentality  that  man  can  invent  or  discover  is 
powerful  for  evil  only  when  it  is  misdirected,  misused,  and  perverted, 
so,  too,  it  is  equally  or  more  powerful  for  good  when  it  is  rightly 
directed  and  rightly  employed.  This  truth  our  Holy  Father  plainly 
declares  in  the  same  address,  from  which  the  foregoing  quotation  is 
made.  He  says: 

“Wherefore,  since  custom  has  made  newspapers  a necessity, 
Catholic  writers  for  them  should  labor  principally  to  apply  to  the 
salvation  of  society  and  the  defence  of  the  church,  that  which  is  used 
by  the  enemy  for  the  destruction  both  of  the  one  and  the  other.  ’ ’ 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  in  fewer  words  and  with 
greater  clearness  the  true  mission  of  the  Catholic  press,  or  to  show 
the  noble  and  exalted  ends  it  should  strive  to  subserve — “the  sal- 
vation OF  SOCIETY  AND  THE  DEFENCE  OF  THE  CHURCH.”  Ol 
the  activity  and  immense  power  of  the  agencies  that  are  working 
for  the  destruction  of  society,  and,  were  it  possible,  of  the  church 
also,  no  observing  and  thoughtful  mind  can  doubt.  The  general 
trend  of  opinion,  outside  of  the  Catholic  Church,  in  Europe — and  it 
is  rapidly  becoming  so  in  this  country — is  in  this  direction.  Hos- 
tility to  authority,  both  in  church  and  in  state,  is  constantly 
increasing.  “ The  majesty  of  the  law”  has  almost  become  an 
obsolete  phrase.  In  the  name  of  liberty  false  notions  are  dissemi- 
nated, which,  carried  out  to  their  logical  conclusions,  are  destruct- 
ive alike  of  civil  order  and  of  religion. 

In  Europe  infidels  and  atheists,  miscalled  Liberals,  differing 
among  themselves  as  regards  their  respective  notions  and  theories, 
yet  united  by  force  of  common  hatred  of  religion  and  of  all  true 
legitimate  authority,  whether  in  the  church  or  the  state,  under  the 
pretence  of  concern  for  human  rights  and  liberty,  are  seizing  and 
holding  the  reins  of  political  power,  and  tyrannize  over  peoples  of 
which  numerically  they  form  but  a small  part.  In  the  names  ol 
liberty  and  of  popular  government  they  are  striving  to  subvert  the 
fundamental  principles  of  social  and  civil  order,  and  to  establish  a 
socialistic,  beaurocratic  despotism  under  which  the  individual  would 
be  reduced  to  an  insignificant  atom,  a mere  automaton,  destitute  of  all 
real  volition  in  the  atheistic  commune,  in  which  personal  rights  and 
true  freedom,  religious,  civil,  educational,  and  industrial,  would  be 
impossible.  In  the  name  of  free  education  it  is  sought  to  impose 
on  the  public  a system  of  education  from  which  freedom  of  religious 
education  shall  be  excluded.  In  the  name  of  religious  freedom  it  is 
sought  to  rob  religion  of  its  divine  elements  and  sanctions,  to  either 
exclude  it  entirely  from  public  recognition  or  else  to  make  it  a sub- 
ject that  has  its  foundation  in  the  state  or  in  human  opinion  as 
regulated  by  the  state,  and  thus  to  deprive  the  church  and  its  mem- 
bership of  all  real,  true  freedom,  by  making  the  church  subordinate 
to  the  state,  in  fact,  a mere  department  or  bureau  of  the  state. 

These  ideas,  alike  false  and  destructive  of  religious  faith,  of  the 
true  principles  of  morality,  civil  liberty,  and  social  order,  are  rapidly 
finding  expression  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  well  as  in  Europe. 
They  pervade  much  of  our  popular  literature.  Some  of  our  most 
popular  magazines  and  most  widely  circulated  newspapers  are  con- 
stantly putting  them  forth  under  every  possible  form.  It  is  this 
pernicious  literature  that  forms  the  daily  pabulum  of  a large  part 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  It  enters  into  and  affects  their 
intellectual  and  moral  development  as  certainly  and  vitally  as  the 
food  they  eat  enters  into  their  bodies  and  affects  their  physical  health 
and  strength. 

It  is  of  utmost  importance,  therefore,  to  the  interests  of  religion 
and  the  welfare  of  our  country  that  our  Catholic  literature  should 
present,  as  our  Holy  Father  Leo  XIII  has  declared  it  can  and 
should  present,  the  antidote  to  the  pestilential  literature  to  which 
we  have  just  referred.  And  in  no  other  form  can  that  antidote  be 
so  effectively  presented  as  in  that  of  vigorous,  ably  conducted  news- 
papers pervaded  by  a truly  Catholic  spirit.  Whether  it  be  regarded 
as  something  to  be  rejoiced  at  or  to  be  deprecated,  it  is  nevertheless 
a fact  that  the  rapidity  of  movement  that  characterizes  our  age  in 
other  respects  also  characterizes  it  as  regards  its  intellectual  and 
moral  ideas  and  action.  Hence,  to  properly  influence  the  public 
mind  upon  subjects  in  which  it  is  interested,  newspapers,  from  a 
convenience,  have  become  a necessity.  Very  many  of  our  non- 
Catholic  newspapers  which  honestly  intend  to  be  fair  and  impartial 
in  their  discussions  of  subjects  bearing  upon  the  Catholic  religion, 
nevertheless  are  unconsciously  pervaded  by  an  anti-Catholic  animus. 
To  counteract  their  influence  in  this  respect  it  is  all-important  that 
there  should  be  a vigorously,  intelligently  and  ably  conducted  Cath- 
olic newspaper  press. 


48 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


There  is  one  other  reason  that  we  will  mention.  It  is  a reason 
which  conies  directly  home  to  every  one  who  wishes  to  be  a faithful, 
devout,  consistent  Catholic  and  to  train  his  children  in  like  manner. 
We  refer  to  the  obligations  of  Catholics  who  value  their  own  souls 
and  the  souls  of  the  children  God  has  given  them  and  whose  souls 
he  will  require  at  their  hands,  to  guard  themselves  and  to  guard 
their  children  against  the  subtle  and  pernicious  influence  of  reading 
that  will  injuriously  affect  their  spiritual  welfare. 

There  are,  in  fact,  few  non-Catholic,  secular  newspapers,  which 
ca-n  be  read  indiscriminately  by  Catholics  without  their  injuring 
themselves  spiritually  and  involving  themselves  in  the  sin  of  dis- 
obeying the  precept  to  abstain  from  whatever  brings  us  into  com- 
panionship with  impurity  (whether  in  thought  or  word  or  deed),  or 
that  tends  to  weaken  faith,  devotion,  the  spirit  of  filial  obedience, 
or  reverence  for  holy  things.  Very  many  Catholics  think,  or  act  as 
if  they  think,  that  they  are  at  liberty  to  read  newspapers  which 
notoriously  exert  an  influence  such  as  we  have  spoken  of;  and  they 
permit  their  children  to  read  them.  Catholics  have  no  more  right 
to  read  such  papers,  or  to  permit  their  children  to  read  them,  than 
they  have  to  associate  with,  or  to  permit  their  children  to  associate 
with  irreverent  or  bad  persons,  or  with  those  who  sneer  and  scoff  at 
the  true  faith. 

The  easiest  and  most  effective  safeguard  against  this  is  fur- 
nished by  good  Catholic  literature,  and  by  that  literature  in  the 
form  of  magazines  and  newspapers.  For,  as  the  best  way  to  pre- 
vent the  ingress  of  foul  air  into  a house  is  to  provide  a constant 
influx  of  pure  air,  so  the  easiest  and  best  way  to  keep  bad  newspa- 
pers out  of  a family  is  to  furnish  it  with  pure,  sound  Catholic 
newspapers. 

But  here  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish;  and  in  the  distinction 
we  make  we  are  strictly  following  the  instructions  of  our  Holy  Father, 
Leo  XIII,  and  of  the  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore.  There 
are  newspapers  which  in  spirit  and  in  contents  are  truly  Catholic; 
and  there  are  others,  which  are  professedly  Catholic,  but  in  actual 
fact  are  most  un-Catholic,  and  some  of  them  decidedly  anti-Catholic. 
Referring  to  this  the  fathers  of  the  third  plenary  council  of  Balti- 
more, whose  acts  and  decrees  have  been  approved  by  the  Holy  See, 
have  made  the  following  emphatic  declaration: 

“Whilst  we  commend  Catholic  newspapers,  we  admonish  the 
faithful  that  not  all  newspapers  which  parade  the  name  Catholic  are 
truly  Catholic.  Their  writers  boast  that  they  are  Catholic,  but  by 
their  example  and  writings  they  disgrace  that  holy  name  and  expose 
it  to  scorn.’’ 

Thus  we  are  confronted  with  the  question:  “What  is  a truly 
Catholic  newspaper?’’  The  answer  to  this  question  is  plainly 
given  in  the  decree  from  which  we  have  just  quoted: 

‘ ‘Let  that  only  be  held  to  be  a Catholic  newspaper  which  sets  forth 
and  defends  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  narrates  the  progress  of  the 
church  at  home  and  abroad,  and  is  ready  to  submit  in  all  things  to 
the  authority  of  the  church.” 

Here  three  characteristic  marks  or  tests  of  a newspaper  that  is 
truly  Catholic  are  plainly  stated. 

The  first  is  that  it  “sets  forth  and  defends  the  doctrines  of  the 
church.” 

It  may  be  well,  in  view  of  erroneous  notions  prevailing  in  some 
quarters,  to  dwell  briefly  on  this. 

It  is  the  doctrine  of  the  church,  not  the  notions  which  writers 
for  Catholic  newspapers  may  “evolve  out  of  their  own  inner  con- 
sciousness,” or  pick  up  and  adopt  from  any  and  every  source,  that 
they  are  to  set  forth  and  defend.  Catholic  newspapers  are  not 
authoritative  teachers  and  expounders  of  what  their  editors,  or  other 
writers  for  them,  in  the  exercise  of  their  own  individual  judgment 
may  suppose  or  imagine  is,  or  ought  to  be,  true  Christian  doctrine. 
That  doctrine  it  is  for  them  to  receive  and  accept,  without  hesitation 
or  question,  and  in  a truly  docile  spirit,  as  it  comes  to  them  through 
the  divinely  constituted  authorities  of  the  church,  which  is  its 
divinely  appointed  perpetual  custodian  and  infallible  teacher.  It  is 
the  honorable  work  and  duty  of  editors  of  and  writers  for  Catholic 
newspapers  to  declare  that  doctrine  as  thus  taught  to  them,  and  to 
defend  it  against  those  who  assail  and  misrepresent  it. 

It  is  impossible  to  emphasize  this  distinction  too  strongly  in  this 
age  of  almost  universal  license  and  so-called  ‘ ‘ free  thought.  ’ ’ Owing 
to  this  distinction  not  being  constantly'  kept  in  mind,  not  a few 
writers  for  Catholic  newspapers  have  egregiously  erred  and  done 
great  harm  whilst  sincerely,  perhaps,  intending  to  do  good.  We 
repeat  it,  and  with  emphasis,  Catholic  newspapers,  or  their  editors 
or  writers,  have  no  mission,  no  authority  to  decide — and  it  is  simply 
the  height  of  arrogance  for  them  to  presume  to  attempt  to  decide  — 
upon  what  is  Catholic  doctrine.  Their  work  is  to  declare  that  doc- 


trine as  they  have  received  it  from  the  church,  and  to  defend  it  against 
those  who  assail  it,  misrepresent  it,  and  who  would  pervert  and  cor- 
rupt it  if  they  could. 

Nor  is  this  minimizing  or  in  the  least  degree  degrading  the  office 
and  work  of  a Catholic  newspaper.  To  take  an  example  from  purely 
human  pursuits,  a lawyer,  however  learned  and  eminent  he  may  be, 
does  not  consider  himself  degraded  when  he  submits  to  the  decis- 
ions of  the  court.  To  go  up  still  higher,  and  take  an  example  from 
the  holy  apostles,  St.  Paul  expressly  says  that  he  taught  not  his  own 
doctrine,  but  that  which  he  had  received,  that  which  had  been  taught 
to  him.  He  emphatically  declares  that  if  he  or  an  angel  from 
heaven  taught  any  other  doctrine,  “ Let  him  be  anathema.” 

The  second  characteristic  of  a truly  Catholic  newspaper  is  a very 
plain  one.  It  is  that  it  keep  its  readers  acquainted  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  church  in  its  own  vicinity  and  in  other  regions.  On  the 
importance  of  this  surely  it  is  not  necessary  to  dilate.  We  all 
naturally  desire  to  read  of  those  things  which  most  deeply  concern 
us.  A dutiful  child  is  interested  in  all  that  concerns  its  mother.  A 
true  patriot  reads  with  intense  interest  all  that  pertains  to  his 
country’s  condition,  its  struggles  against  adverse  circumstances,  its 
success  in  overcoming  them,  its  prosperity  and  progress.  If  this 
country  is  engaged  in  war  he  notes  with  profound  concern  all  the 
movements  of  its  armies  and  those  of  its  adversaries,  its  victories 
and  defeats,  its  successes  and  reverses.  He  rejoices  over  the  one  and 
mourns  over  the  other. 

In  like  manner  the  true  children  of  the  church  are  deeply  con- 
cerned in  all  that  pertains  to  the  condition  and  progress  of  the 
church,  not  only  at  home,  but  throughout  the  world.  To  inform  its 
readers  respecting  these  things  is  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of 
the  work  of  a Catholic  newspaper. 

Obedience  to  ecclesiastical  authority  is  the  third  characteristic 
laid  down  by  the  council  of  Baltimore.  On  this  it  is  unnecessary 
here  to  dwell.  The  obligation  is  imperative  and  its  meaning  un- 
mistakable. We  shall,  however,  have  something  further  to  say  on 
th’s  subject  in  a subsequent  part  of  our  paper. 

Elsewhere,  but  in  the  same  decree  from  which  we  have  been 
quoting,  the  council  of  Baltimore  lays  down  another  requisite  of  a 
truly  Catholic  newspaper.  It  says: 

“ It  is  especially  necessary  that  whatever  they  (Catholics)  them- 
selves write,  and  whatever  they  insert  in  their  papers,  taken  from 
others,  shall  accord  with  the  laws  of  Christian  charity  and  modera- 
tion. And  even  when  they  are  defending  our  most  holy  religion 
against  the  accusations  and  calumnies  of  slanderers  they  should  aim 
to  confound  them  by  the  weight  of  their  arguments,  and  not  rail  at 
them  with  bitter  words,  reproaches,  and  maledictions.” 

The  council  also  declares:  That  when  a controversy  arises  be- 
tween Catholics  honestly  differing  in  opinion  the  same  rule  shall  be 
observed.  “For  among  men  of  good  will,”  it  says,  “Christian 
charity  can  well  exist  along  with  difference  of  opinion.” 

These  injunctions  are  supported  by  an  extract  from  the  letter  of 
the  sovereign  pontiff,  Leo  XIII,  of  August  3d,  1881.  It  is  as  follows: 

“ In  carrying  on  controversies  care  must  be  taken  not  to  exceed 
the  bounds  of  moderation  which  the  rules  of  justice  and  charity 
prescribe  ; nor  should  persons  who  are  devoted  to  the  doctrines  of 
the  church,  and  especially  not  those  who  in  the  church  are  eminent 
in  dignity  and  authority,  be  rashly  accused,  or  otherwise  brought 
under  suspicion.” 

It  is  well  for  those  of  us  who  are  editors  or  managers  of  Catholic 
newspapers  to  frequently  and  seriously  ponder  these  declarations 
and  injunctions.  They  are  solemn  and  express  declarations  of  the 
third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore  following  out  and  applying  the 
instructions  of  the  sovereign  pontiff  of  the  church.  They  serve  as 
guide-posts  to  keep  us  in  the  right  road  ; they  are  salutar}'  instruc- 
tions and  warnings  to  keep  us  from  injuring,  in  our  mistaken  earn- 
estness and  zeal,  the  holy  cause  we  are  striving  to  promote  ; they 
are  tests  by  which  all  may  measure  and  determine  how  closely  each 
of  the  journals  we  are  connected  with  approaches  to,  and  how  far  it 
falls  short  of  realizing,  the  ideal  of  a true  Catholic  journal ; they 
serve  as  tests,  too,  by  which  true  Catholic  newspapers  can  be  known 
and  distinguished  from  pretended  Catholic,  but  in  reality  un-Catholic 
and  anti-Catholic  newspapers,  and  the  real  spirit  and  character  of 
the  latter  be  discovered,  despite  their  false  pretensions. 

The  question  now  naturally  arises  : To  what  extent  do  Catho- 
lic newspapers  in  this  country,  generally,  attain  or  fall  short  of  the 
ideal  of  a true  Catholic  newspaper  ? As  regards  the  first  character- 
istic— that  of  setting  forth  and  defending  Catholic  doctrines  — there 
is  reason  to  believe,  as  respects  what  may  be  called  the  ‘ ‘ theological  ’ ’ 
doctrines  of  the  church,  few  or  none  of  our  Catholic  newspapers 
'"excluding  from  this  remark  pretended  but  really  un-Catholic 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


49 


papers)  are  seriously  deficient.  Many  of  them  exhibit  commendable 
vigilance  and  energy  in  repelling  assaults  upon  the  Catholic  religion 
and  correcting  misrepresentations  of  it.  Of  course  there  is  a differ- 
ence. Some  are  more  active  and  vigorous  than  others  in  this 
respect,  but  the  difference,  we  believe,  results  rather  from  difference 
in  their  respective  strength  and  ability,  than  from  lack  of  earnestness 
and  zeal. 

Perhaps  this  statement  should  be  qualified.  There  is  room  to 
fear  that  as  regards  a class  of  subjects  which  are  essential  parts  of 
Catholic  doctrine,  some  of  our  Catholic  journals  are  less  careful  than 
they  should  be  to  acquaint  themselves  with  and  follow  the  teachings 
of  the  church  and  of  her  approved  theologians.  We  refer  to  sub- 
jects pertaining  to  the  authority  of  the  church,  the  office  and  author- 
ity of  the  sovereign  pontiff  of  the  church,  his  rights  and  power,  and 
especially  his  right  to  independence  of  every  temporal  sovereign  or 
government ; we  refer,  also,  to  all  those  subjects  which  relate  to  the 
origin  and  constitution  of  human  society  ; to  the  basis  of  civil 
government,  its  origin,  authority,  power,  and  the  limits  of  its 
authority  and  power  ; to  the  industrial  questions  of  the  day,  the 
relation  of  labor  and  capital,  or  rather,  the  relation  of  employers 
and  employes  ; to  the  right  of  individual  ownership  of  property  and 
the  limits  of  that  right. 

As  regards  all  of  these  subjects,  or  most  of  them,  there  is  reason 
to  think  that  less  attention,  than  should  be,  is  given  by  Catholic 
editors  and  writers  to  the  teachings  of  the  church  and  its  theologians; 
and  that  some  of  them,  indeed,  imagine  that  they  are  free  to  adopt 
and  express  whatever  opinions  they  please  respecting  these  subjects, 
regardless  of  the  official  utterances  of  sovereign  pontiffs  of  the 
church  and  of  its  theologians.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  these  last-men- 
tioned writers  unwittingly  subject  themselves  to  the  following  con- 
demnation of  the  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore.  Referring  to 
editors  of  some  so-called  (falsely  so-called)  Catholic  newspapers,  the 
fathers  of  that  council  declare: 

“They  scatter  their  own  notions  among  the  unthinking  popu- 
lace, which  notions,  too  often,  are  nothing  else  than  visionary  theo- 
ries of  infidels  and  innovators  respecting  the  origin  of  society  and 
the  limits  of  the  civil  power.’’ 

No  more  grievous  mistake  can  be  made  than  to  imagine  that 
the  subjects  referred  to  are  not  included  in  the  scope  of  Catholic  doc- 
trine and  in  that  magisterium  or  authority  to  teach  with  which 
Christ  has  invested  his  church.  Religion  has  to  do  with  all  the 
relations  of  man,  to  God,  to  himself,  to  his  individual  neighbor,  and 
to  society.  The  church  comprehends  in  its  teaching  office  all  that 
religion  comprehends,  and  consequently,  all  that  is  involved  in  and 
grows  out  of  the  relations  just  mentioned.  The  subjects  we  have 
referred  to  are  inseparably  connected  with  those  relations;  they  have 
their  roots  in  them,  aud  derive  their  guiding,  ruling  principles  from 
them.  The  divinely  prescribed  laws  of  justice  and  charity,  too, 
govern  them,  and  determine  the  obligations  and  duties  that  grow 
out  of  them.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  to  make  known,  expound, 
explain,  and  practically  apply  all  that  the  laws  of  justice  and  charity 
comprehend,  belongs  immediately  and  directly  to  the  authoritative 
teaching  office  of  the  church.  Catholics,  therefore,  err  most  griev- 
ously when  they  allow  themselves  to  be  deluded  into  supposing  that 
the  subjects  to  which  we  are  referring  are  mere  matters  of  opinion, 
and  that  they  are  at  liberty  to  think,  speak,  write,  or  act  with  regard 
to  them  as  they  please.  In  so  imagining  they  expose  themselves  to 
the  imminent  danger  of  losing  their  faith  and  the  spirit  of  true  obedi- 
ence to  the  authority  and  teaching  of  the  church,  and  thus  they  not 
only  imperil  their  own  souls,  but  the  souls  also  of  all  whom  they 
influence. 

There  is  another  reason  why  Catholics,  and  especial^  Catholic 
writers  in  this  country,  should  studiously  acquaint  themselves  with 
the  teachings  of  the  church  on  the  subjects  to  which  we  are  referring. 
These  subjects  are  practical  “burning”  questions  of  the  day.  They 
cannot  be  neglected  or  ignored.  They  are  coming  constantly  to  the 
front,  and  imperatively  demanding  right  answers  and  just  practical 
solutions.  If  the  solution  given  be  the  right  one,  our  country  will 
continue  to  prosper,  and  its  people  will  continue  at  peace  with  them- 
selves; our  free  institutions  will  continue;  our  government,  with  its 
safeguards  for  personal  rights  and  freedom,  will  continue.  But  it 
the  practical  solution  be  wrong,  there  is  peril  impending  and  close  at 
hand,  plainly  visible  to  every  thoughtful,  discerning  eye,  of  social 
disorders,  confusion,  and  convulsion,  the  thought  of  which  must  fill 
with  horror  every  true  lover  of  our  country,  its  institutions,  and  its 
welfare. 

Catholics  are  an  integral  part  of  the  population  of  our  country. 
They  are  daily  becoming  a more  numerous  and  more  influential 
part.  They  have  a common  interest  along  with  other  citizens,  n 


the  peace,  the  prosperity,  the  welfare  of  our  country.  They  are 
lovers  of  our  country,  deeply  attached  to  its  institutions  and  its 
government,  warm  and  earnest  supporters  of  them.  None  are 
more  so.  Motives  of  patriotism,  therefore,  as  well  as  regard  for  the 
interests  of  true  religion,  demand  that  Catholics,  and  especially 
Catholic  editors  and  writers,  thoroughly  acquaint  themselves  with 
the  teachings  of  the  church  on  these  subjects,  and  strictly  follow 
that  teaching. 

If  another  reason  were  wanting,  it  would  be  found  in  this:  The 
church  is  especially  concerned  for  the  poor.  “The  poor  have  the 
Gospel  preached  to  them.”  The  church  has  been  the  guardian  and 
defender  of  the  poor  in  all  ages.  She  is  this  to-day,  and  ever  will 
be.  Therefore,  if  Catholic  editors  and  writers  are,  and  are  resolved 
to  continue  faithful  children  and  members  of  the  church,  they  must 
have  like  special  consideration  for  the  poor.  It  is  the  poor  who  sell 
their  labor  to  those  who  are  more  wealthy.  It  is  the  poor  who  are 
employes  of  the  employers.  Unhappily,  contentions  and  strife  too 
often  arise  between  the  two  classes.  Their  respective  interests, 
which  ought  to  be  harmonious,  are  almost  constantly  now  made 
antagonistic.  Through  these  antagonisms,  disorders  and  tumults 
arise,  injuriously  affecting  the  good  order  and  peace  of  society,  and 
destroying  the  good  will  and  mutual  cooperation  which  ought  to 
exist  between  all,  irrespective  of  their  occupations,  pursuits,  social 
position,  and  pecuniary  circumstances. 

It  is  the  imperative  duty  of  Catholic  editors  and  writers  to  pen- 
etrate into  and  thoroughly  understand  the  causes  of  this  unhappy 
state  of  things.  It  is  their  office  to  instruct  both  employers  and 
employes  as  to  their  mutual  relations  and  their  respective  rights  and 
duties,  and  the  limitations  of  their  rights.  If  either  employers  or 
employes  overstep  their  rights,  or  are  derelict  as  to  their  duties,  it 
is  the  duty  of  Catholic  editors  and  writers  to  speak  out  plainly  and 
courageously,  yet  prudently,  and  to  rebuke  whosoever  is  in  the 
wrong.  This  duty  is  all  the  more  imperative,  because  whenever 
the  antagonisms  to  which  we  are  referring,  arise,  and  whatever  be 
their  immediate  outcome,  and  whoever  be  in  the  wrong,  it  is  the 
poor  who  invariably  suffer. 

Nor  are  Catholic  editors  and  writers  without  sufficient  guides 
to  enable  them  safely,  prudently,  and  efficiently  to  perform  this 
most  useful  aud  most  important  work.  Eminent  and  approved 
Catholic  theologians  have  lucidly  written  on  these  subjects;  pre- 
eminent among  them  all,  St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  If  Catholic  editors 
and  writers  have  not  access  to  his  works,  or  his  principal  works, 
in  the  original  texts,  they  can  study  them  through  the  medium  of 
approved  English  translators  and  commentators.  The  encylicals, 
too,  of  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII,  are  an  inexhaustible  store- 
house of  instruction  on  these  subjects. 

The  next  characteristic  of  a true  Catholic  newspaper,  which 
naturally  comes  now  under  consideration,  though  not  in  the  order 
in  which  we  stated  it,  is  the  regard  which  Catholic  newspapers,  in 
their  defence  of  the  doctrines  of  the  church,  show  for  that  modera- 
tion and  charity  which  our  Holy  Father  aud  the  plenary  council  oi 
Baltimore  declare  should  characterize  a true  Catholic  newspaper. 
Too  often  all  of  us,  with  very  few  exceptions,  forget  the  maxim, 
Suaviter  in  modo,  fortitcr  in  re.  Too  often  we  return  railing  by  rail- 
ing, and  deal  in  bitter  invectives,  when  a more  courteous  manner 
and  a gentler  spirit  would  be  much  more  effective,  as  well  as  more 
consonant  with  Christian  charity. 

Then,  too,  before  we  leave  this  point,  we  cannot  but  advert  to 
the  flagrant  violations  of  the  injunctions  of  our  Holy  Father,  Leo 
XIII,  and  of  the  council  of  Baltimore,  by  Catholic  newspapers  in 
their  controversies  with  one  another.  On  such  occasions,  and  about 
matters  concerning  which  there  is  ample  room  for  difference  of  opin- 
ion, Catholic  newspapers  too  often  exhibit  a spirit  of  bitterness  that 
would  be  utterly  indefensible  if  indulged  in  towards  even  the  most 
malevolent  defamer  of  our  holy  religion.  What  an  occasion  for 
scorn  all  this  furnishes  to  the  enemies  of  our  holy  religion,  and  how 
disedifying  it  is  to  readers  of  these  newspapers,  it  is  needless  for  us 
to  say. 

There  is,  certainly,  great  need  for  Catholic  newspapers  guard- 
ing themselves  against  the  spirit  of  envy,  jealousy,  and  selfish 
rivalry,  and  cultivating  that  spirit  of  mutual  consideration  and 
mutual  cooperation  and  union  which  our  Holy  Father  and  the 
third  council  of  Baltimore  have  solemnly  enjoined  them  to  cherish. 

The  second  test  by  which  the  true  Catholic  newspaper  is  recog- 
nized is  its  publishing  news  respecting  the  church  and  all  that  per- 
tains to  her  condition  and  progress  at  home  and  abroad.  Our 
Catholic  newspapers  differ,  as  might  be  expected,  with  regard  to  the 
degree  in  which  they  fulfill  this  requirement,  some  of  them  paying 
far  more  attention  to  it  than  do  others.  Yet  this  difference,  we 


5° 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS . 


are  inclined  to  think,  results  chiefly  from  difference  in  their  finan- 
cial strength  and  their  opportunities  to  become  acquainted  with  what 
I may  call  “Catholic  News.” 

When  we  consider  the  vast  field  of  information  that  is  com- 
prised under  the  term  “ Catholic  News,”  the  movements  and  occur- 
rences having  a bearing  upon  the  Catholic  religion  in  each  diocese 
in  our  own  vast  country;  in  Canada,  in  Mexico,  in  Central  and 
South  America,  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  in  Australia,  in  the 
numerous  missionary-  fields  of  Asia  and  Africa;  the  movements  in 
and  around  Rome  referring  to  the  present  position  of  the  Holy 
Father;  his  allocutions,  addresses,  and  encyclicals  — when  we  con- 
sider all  this  we  can  realize  how  extensive  is  the  field  to  be  gone 
over  and  how  difficult  it  is  to  even  approximately  gather  and  pub- 
lish what  it  is  important  should  be  published,  and  than  which  noth- 
ing could  well  be  more  interesting  and  edifying  to  faithful  members 
of  the  church.  To  properly  do  all  this  would  exceed  in  the  ex- 
penses that  would  necessarily  have  to  be  incurred  the  resources  of 
the  strongest  and  most  prosperous  Catholic  newspaper  in  our 
country.  Nor  can  it  ever  be  expected  that  even  approximately  due 
attention  will  ever  be  paid  to  this  very  important  part  of  a Catholic 
newspaper’s  work  until  a support  is  furnished  them  five-fold  greater 
than  that  which  they  now  receive. 

With  regard  to  the  spirit  of  subordination  and  implicit  obedience 
to  ecclesiastical  authority  which  must  characterize  every  true  Cath- 
olic newspaper,  there  is,  we  believe,  a steady  and  constant  improve- 
ment. Yet  that  there  is  great  room  for  further  improvement  in  this 
respect  on  the  part  of  some  Catholic  newspapers  in  this  country, 
cannot  be  denied.  There  are  Catholics,  controlling  and  editing 
Catholic  newspapers,  who,  we  believe,  are  entirely  honest  in  their 
expressed  desire  to  make  their  newspapers  truly  Catholic,  yet  who 
seem  never  so  happy  as  when  criticising,  in  the  exercise  of  their  own 
individual  judgment,  the  actions  of  priests  and  bishops  and  the 
manner  in  which  their  ecclesiastical  superiors  manage  matters  per- 
taining to  the  church,  its  affairs  and  interests;  who  seem  never  so 
happy  as  when  they  can  expose  to  the  public,  and  carp  and  quibble 
and  sneer  at  some  mistake  or  inconsistency  (real  or  supposititious), 
of  those  who  are  placed  over  them  in  the  church.  They  seem  to  be 
entirely  unconscious  of  and  unconcerned  about  the  immense  harm 
that  in  this  way  they  are  doing  to  religion.  Their  conduct  has  been 
repeatedly  rebuked  and  condemned  by  sovereign  pontiffs  of  the 
church;  and  the  fathers  of  the  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore 
have  pronounced  the  following  condemnation  upon  them: 

‘ ‘ We  declare  that  they  themselves  and  those  who  assist  and 
encourage  them  in  this  most  pernicious  abuse  are  disturbers  of  good 
order,  contemners  and  enemies  of  the  authority  of  the  church,  and 
guilty  of  the  gravest  scandal;  and,  therefore,  when  their  guilt  has 
been  sufficiently  proved,  should  be  punished  with  canonical 
censures.” 

In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  allude  to  an  opinion  that  seems 
to  exist  in  the  minds  of  even  some  intelligent  Catholic  editors  and 
writers.  Strange  to  say,  they  seem  to  imagine  that  there  is  a differ- 
ence as  regards  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  obligations  of  Catholic 
newspapers  to  submit  to  ecclesiastical  authority,  to  closely  follow 
the  teachings  of  the  church  and  to  abstain  from  criticising  their 
ecclesiastical  superiors  and  the  manner  in  which  they  administer 
the  matters  committed  to  their  charge;  a difference  between  Cath- 
olic newspapers  which  are  published  with,  and  those  which  are 
published  without  the  express  official  approval  of  the  ordinary  of 
the  diocese  in  which  their  publication  offices  are  respectively  sit- 
uated. Those  which  have  that  approval  are  commonly  styled 
“bishops’  organs,”  and  are  sneered  at  as  having  no  freedom  of 
action  or  liberty  of  opinion.  They  are  scornfully  referred  to  (shame- 
fully misrepresented)  as  under  obligations  to  abstain  from  the  dis- 
cussion of  subjects  which  Catholic  newspapers  that  have  no  such 
express  official  approval  are  entirely  at  liberty  to  discuss  in  anjr  way 
or  manner  they  please. 

It  is  surprising  that  such  an  opinion  should  be  entertained  and 
expressed  by  any  intelligent  Catholic.  There  is  no  possible  excuse 
for  it.  It  must  be  attributed  to  either  inexcusable  ignorance  or 
wilful  malevolent  misrepresentation. 

The  fathers  of  the  third  council  of  Baltimore  have  sufficiently 
guarded  this  subject.  According  to  their  decree  on  the  subject  of 
Catholic  periodicals  there  cannot  be  any  such  thing  as  an  “official 
organ”  of  a bishop  or  an  archbishop.  They  have  defined  the  limits 
and  meaning  of  the  approval  which  a bishop  or  an  archbishop  may 
give  to  a Catholic  newspaper  published  in  his  diocese,  and  in  the 
general  conduct  of  which  he  has  confidence.  They  expressly 
declare  that  the  approval  of  the  ordinary  of  a diocese  simply  means 
that  he  believes  that  nothing  is  or  will  be  published  in  the  news- 


paper to  which  he  has  given  his  official  approval,  contrary  to  faith 
or  morals,  or  that  is  disedifying.  They  have  also  expressly  declared 
that  bishops  and  archbishops  cannot  and  may  not  make  themselves 
responsible  for  anything  published  in  newspapers  except  .what  is 
published  by  the  bishops  or  archbishops  themselves  in  the  exercise 
of  their  official  functions  and  over  their  own  names. 

The  obligation  referred  to  rests  equally  upon  Catholic  editors 
and  writers,  irrespective  of  their  having  or  not  having  episcopal 
approval,  just  as  the  same  obligation  rests  upon  all  other  members 
of  the  church. 

We  conclude  with  some  thoughts  upon  the  manner  in  which 
Catholic  newspapers  may  more  fully  realize  the  ideal  of  a true, 
perfect  Catholic  journal,  and,  in  their  own  proper  sphere  and  scope, 
become  more  efficient  instrumentalities  for  disseminating  and  defend- 
ing truth  and  promoting  the  interests  of  the  church  and  of  society. 
This  branch  of  our  subject  might  well  form  a separate  paper;  the 
topics  it  embraces  are  so  numerous  and  various.  But  your  patience, 
doubtless,  is  well  nigh  exhausted,  and  we  must  necessarily  be  brief. 

The  first  requisite  to  this  is  that  we  brethren  of  the  Catholic 
newspaper  press  cherish  the  spirit  of  fraternal  unity.  We  should 
cast  away  as  unworthy  of  our  high  and  important  office,  all  envy  and 
jealousy,  should  abstain  from  needless  disedifying  bickering  and 
contention  with  one  another,  and  cooperate  together  cordially  in 
striving  to  promote  the  cause  in  whose  defence  we  are  all  enlisted. 
There  is  a world  of  wisdom  in  the  well  known  saying,  “ In  union 
there  is  strength.  ’ ’ But  on  this  we  need  not  dwell.  Our  Holy 
Father  has  solemnly  enjoined  this  on  us,  and  the  third  plenary 
council  of  Baltimore  earnestly  exhorts  us  to  constantly  keep  in 
mind  his  injunctions. 

It  is  necessary,  too,  that  we  cultivate  the  spirit  of  gentleness 
and  charity  in  dealing  with  the  adversaries  of  our  holy  religion, 
sovereign  pontiffs  of  the  church  have  exhorted  us  to  this,  and  have 
set  before  us  as  the  great  exemplar  for  us  to  strive  to  imitate,  and 
as  our  patron  saint,  the  holy  Francis  de  Sales,  who,  by  his  meek- 
ness, sweetness  of  temper,  and  unvarying  courtesy,  changed  invet- 
erate enemies  into  warm  friends,  turned  aside  or  blunted  the  sharpest 
shafts  that  were  hurled  against  the  church,  and  thus  won  more 
victories  than  other  powerful  champions  of  the  truth  were  able  to 
achieve  by  more  violent  and  seemingly  bolder  efforts. 

Again,  it  is  necessary  that  more  care  be  taken  to  exclude  all 
disedifying  matter  from  our  columns.  It  seems  needless  to  say  even 
a word  about  this.  The  obligation  is  imperative.  Yet,  unfortu- 
nately, in  a number  of  professedly  Catholic  newspapers,  and  more 
especially  among  those  which  are  feebly  supported  and  struggling 
for  an  existence,  the  obligation  seems  to  be  almost  wholly  neglected. 
Prurient  advertisements  and  pictures  which  are  indelicate  and  inde- 
cent and  suggestive  of  evil,  are  to  be  found  in  their  columns.  Dis- 
edifying reading  matter,  and  sometimes  stories  of  a highly  objection- 
able character,  replete  with  mawkish  sentimentality,  with  modern 
ideas  about  free  love,  legal  divorces  and  marriages  permitted  by  the 
civil  law  but  condemned  by  the  church,  along  with  religious  notions 
which  are  covertly  or  openly  antagonistic  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
church,  make  these  newspapers  positively  pernicious. 

Another  improvement  in  Catholic  newspapers,  we  are  inclined 
to  think,  would  be  their  more  commonly  republishing  editorials  and 
“ Church  News,”  or  summaries  of  them,  taken  from  other  Catholic 
newspapers,  and  duly  credited. 

Still  another  and  a highly  important  requisite  is  their  taking 
measures  to  secure  fresher  and  fuller  reports  written  by  loyal,  devout 
Catholics,  of  what  Catholics  in  other  countries  are  doing,  and  also  of 
what  the  enemies  of  Lhe  church  are  doing  in  those  countries. 

The  great  need  of  this  will  be  obvious  to  every  one  if  he  con- 
siders that  the  news  agencies  of  Europe  are  almost  entirely  under 
the  management  of  persons  who  are  not  only  non- Catholics,  but  in  a 
large  number  of  instances  infidels  and  bitter  enemies  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  We  believe  that  our  leading  daily  newspapers,  with  a few 
exceptions,  honestly  wish  to  be  fair  and  truthful  in  the  reports  which 
they  publish  respecting  Catholic  affairs,  but  their  foreign  correspond- 
ents being  in  some  cases  anti-Catholic,  in  others  non-Catholic,  and 
in  only  a few  instances  real,  true  Catholics,  as  a matter  of  course, 
the  reports  they  send,  even  of  true  occurrences,  are  discolored,  one- 
sided, and  often  intentionally  falsified.  Moreover,  their  news  agents 
and  correspondents  are  always  on  the  qui  vive  for  ‘ ‘ news,  ’ ’ and  con- 
sequently seize  upon  every  report  and  rumor,  without  delaying  suf- 
ficiently to  enable  them  to  ascertain  its  authenticity  or  accuracy. 
They  enlarge  upon  it,  comment  upon  it,  give  it  the  shape  and  color- 
ing which  they  think  will  make  it  most  sensational,  and  then  tele- 
graph or  mail  it  at  once  to  this  country.  Here  it  is  quickly  pub- 
lished. Our  Catholic  newspapers  have  no  such  facilities  for  promptly 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


5i 


receiving  authentic  news.  They  may  be  fully  convinced  of  the  fals- 
ity of  the  reports  that  are  published  in  the  non-Catholic  newspapers, 
but  they  cannot  promptly  contradict  them  nor  satisfactorily  explain 
and  expose  the  discolorations  and  prevarications  of  those  that  are 
partly  true  and  partly  untrue.  Afcer  a week  or  two  they  obtain 
definite  information,  and  are  able  to  disprove  the  false  report  or  to 
give  a true  version  of  what  has  been  misrepresented.  But  the  false- 
hoods and  misrepresentations  have  already  done  their  bad  work  in 
misleading  public  opinion,  and  the  corrections  and  refutations  made 
by  Catholic  newspapers,  if  made  at  all,  are  too  late  to  attract  attention. 

To  relieve  the  Catholic  press  of  this  enormous  disadvantage, 
two  things  are  necessary.  The  first  is  to  establish  and  maintain  an 
active,  vigilant,  and  energetic  Catholic  associate  press  agency.  The 
second  is  to  establish  in  one  of  our  large  cities  a Catholic  daily  news- 
paper, subsequently  to  be  followed  by  the  establishing  of  others  in 
other  large  cities.  The  idea  of  a Catholic  associated  press  has 
been  mooted  before  and  pronounced  impracticable  by  persons  of 
large  practical  experience  and  keen  business  insight.  Yet,  for  all 
that,  we  remain  unconvinced  of  its  impracticability,  and  urge  it  upon 
the  attention  of  our  brethren  of  the  Catholic  press.  We  do  this  all 
the  more  confidently  and  earnestly  because  we  are  strongly  sup- 
ported by  persons  whose  judgment  is  entitled  to  high  consideration. 
Among  them  are  several  experienced  Catholic  journalists  who  have 
spoken  favorably  of  the  undertaking. 

The  establishing  of  a Catholic  daily  newspaper  is  necessary,  be- 
cause Cathblic  weekly  journals  (owing  to  the  fact  that  they  are  pub- 
lished only  once  a week)  cannot  quickly  expose  and  refute  the  false- 
hoods and  calumnies  that  are  constantly  invented  and  spread  abroad 
respecting  the  church,  and  especially  respecting  the  Holy  See.  In 
this  rapidly  moving  age  of  ours  what  is  to  be  done  effectively  must 
be  done  at  once.  In  our  conflict  with  the  enemies  of  our  religion  our 
counter-strokes  must  follow  their  blows  with  lightning-like  speed. 

The  fathers  of  the  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore  thoroughly 
understand  this.  They  declare: 

“It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  in  each  of  our  large  cities  a 
Catholic  daily  newspaper  be  maintained,  fully  equal  to  the  secular 
daily  newspapers  in  financial  strength,  and  the  sagacity,  vigor,  and 
power  of  its  writers.  Nor  is  it  necessary  that  the  word  Catholic  be 
displayed  at  the  head  of  its  pages.  It  is  sufficient  that,  in  addition 
to  recent  occurrences,  and  all  those  things  which  in  other  daily 
newspapers  are  eagerly  desired,  it  defend,  whenever  a proper  oppor- 
tunity presents  itself,  the  Catholic  Church  from  the  assaults  and 
calumnies  of  its  enemies,  and  explain  its  doctrine;  and,  moreover, 
that  it  carefully  abstain  from  placing  before  its  readers  anything  that 
is  scandalous,  indecent,  or  unbecoming.’’ 

It  is  argued  that  a Catholic?  daily  newspaper  cannot  be  success- 
fully maintained.  Why  ? Is  it  because  of  want  of  sufficient  capital, 
of  sufficient  journalistic  talent,  of  sufficient  administrative  ability 
among  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States  ? Emphatically,  it  is  not. 
There  is  to-day  more  than  enough  capital  invested  by  Catholics  in 
non-Catholic  newspapers  all  over  the  land  to  amply  provide  for  a 
dozen  or  a score  of  Catholic  dailies.  There  are,  on  the  great  non- 
Catholic  dailies  of  our  large  cities,  Catholics  who,  in  sagacity, 
quickness,  fulness  of  knowledge,  and  all  that  goes  to  make  a suc- 
cessful journalist,  are  peers  to  any  of  their  non-Catholic  fellow- 
workers.  As  for  administrative,  executive,  directing  ability,  we 
have  Catholics  managing  successfully  and  with  distinguished  ability 
railroads,  mills,  mines,  factories,  banks,  and  insurance  companies. 
Passing  strange  would  it  be  if  Catholic  talent  could  not  be  found 
competent  to  cope  with  the  difficult  task  of  managing  a great  daily 
newspaper.  What  is  really  wanting  is  the  will.  As  soon  as  Catho- 
lics in  the  United  States  will  to  establish  such  a newspaper,  the  men 
and  the  money  to  maintain  and  conduct  it  will  be  quickly  found. 
And  until  such  a newspaper  (or  a number  of  them)  shall  have  been 
established,  the  Catholics  of  this  country  will  not  be  doing  what 
they  might  do  and  ought  to  do  to  defend  the  church,  and  to  promote 
the  welfare,  social,  moral,  and  religious,  of  the  great  people,  of  which 
Catholics  are  an  integral  component  part;  and  consequently  they 
will  not  be  doing  what  they  might  do,  and  ought  to  do,  to  preserve 
and  perpetuate  our  civil  institutions,  of  which  it  is  needless  to  say 
that  morality  and  religion,  combined  with  intelligence,  are  the  firm- 
est supports. 

And  now  to  prevent  any  possible  misunderstanding  we  add 
that  we  have  passed-over  as  not  needing  to  be  suggested,  that,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  Catholic  newspapers  designed  for  general  circula- 
tion should  not  confine  themselves  to  subjects  of  a strictly  religious 
character.  They  should  discuss  intelligently  the  events  and  occur- 
rences of  the  day,  questions  of  civil  polity,  questions  that  refer  to 
the  industrial,  commercial,  and  other  interests  of  our  country,  but 


not  in  a narrow  or  partisan  sense.  Along  with  this  they  should 
furnish  their  readers,  according  to  the  condition,  circumstances, 
tastes,  and  social  status  of  those  whose  support  they  respectively 
aim  at  securing,  what  will  best  amuse  and  interest  them.  In  short, 
they  should  aim  to  present  in  their  columns  all  that  characterizes  a 
pure,  fresh,  entertaining,  vigorous  newspaper. 

The  importance  of  this  seems  to  us  self-evident,  but  it  is  not 
sufficiently  attended  to  by  editors  of  some  of  our  Catholic  news- 
papers. Their  pages  lack  variety.  In  some  instances  they  are  too 
heavy.  The  range  of  topics  covered  both  by  their  editorials  and 
their  selections,  is  too  narrow.  The  “ scissors  and  the  paste  pot’’ 
are  employed  too  hurriedly  and  without  sufficient  thought  or  good 
judgment.  In  other  words,  too  little  care  and  discrimination  are 
exercised  in  making  selections  of  matter  taken  from  other  news- 
papers and  periodicals.  There  is  too  much  “ padding.’’  Too  little 
attention  is  given  to  the  process  of  “boiling  down’’;  the  art  and 
power  of  summarizing  and  condensing  into  smaller  compass,  yet 
preserving  the  pith  and  substance  of  what  is  thus  summarized,  are 
too  seldom  employed.  There  is  room  for  improvement  in  these 
respects  in  many  of  our  Catholic  newspapers.  We  are  sure,  too, 
that  such  improvement  will  be  followed  by  increased  circulation. 

But  that  Catholic  newspapers  may  even  approach  the  realiza- 
tion of  what  we  have  been  urging,  it  is  necessary  that  a support  far 
greater  than  that  which  any  of  them  now  receive  be  accorded  them. 
Until  this  is  done— and  it  is  not  done  now — much  that  we  have  written 
will  be  entirely  impracticable,  purely  visionary.  Editors  of  Catholic 
newspapers  and  their  assistants  are  notoriously  overworked  and 
underpaid.  There  are,  among  editors  and  writers  for  Catholic  news- 
papers, men  of  eminent  ability,  sincerely  desirous  to  do  their  full 
duty  in  their  respective  positions;  men  who  in  other  pursuits  or  who 
on  non-Catholic  journals  might  win  their  way  to  fortune  and  fame, 
yet  who  receive  a meagre  compensation.  They  are  overworked , for 
no  one  or  two  or  three  men  can  properly  and  thoroughly  do  the 
work  that  is  comprehended  in  an  ideal  Catholic  newspaper  as  we 
have  sketched  it.  Yet  the  ideal  is  not,  emphatically  not , a visionary 
or  impractical  one. 

Were  it  necessary  to  give  sharper  point  to  what  we  have  written, 
we  might  easily  do  it.  We  could  name  at  least  ten  or  twelve  Prot- 
estant journals,  which,  as  respects  numerical  strength  of  editorial 
staff,  number  of  regular  contributors  and  correspondents,  scholarly 
work,  careful  thought,  and  painstaking,  discriminating  labor 
employed  on  them,  contrast  most  forcibly  and  favorably  with  even 
the  very  best  of  our  Catholic  newspapers.  In  the  respects  mentioned 
they  are  incomparably  superior  to  almost  every,  if  not  to  every, 
Catholic  newspaper  in  our  country.  It  is  unpleasant  to  say  this;  it 
is  unpleasant  to  you  to  hear  it;  but,  unhappily,  it  is  true. 

Whose  fault  is  all  this  ? Is  it  that  of  the  owners  or  business  man- 
agers of  Catholic  newspapers  ? To  the  latter  question  we  answer, 
No.  There  are  exceptions,  but,  as  a rule,  we  believe  that  the  current 
supposition  is  entirely  false.  The  fault  lies  at  the  door  of  the  Catho- 
lic public.  And  we  believe  that  our  intelligent,  educated  Catholics 
are  most  to  blame  as  regards  this.  The)'  expend  for  themselves  and 
their  families,  ten,  twenty,  fifty  dollars  on  non-Catholic  publications 
for  every  two  or  five  dollars  that  they  expend  on  Catholic  periodicals 
or  newspapers.  Converse  with  one  of  these  intelligent,  educated 
Catholics.  He  tells  you  he  is  deeply  interested  in  some  special  sub- 
ject which  directly  concerns  the  interests  of  the  church  or  some 
movement  in  favor  of  or  against  the  church.  Hand  to  him  a Catho- 
lic newspaper,  or  monthly,  or  quarterly,  which  contains  an  interest- 
ing article  from  a Catholic  writer  of  distinguished  ability  on  that 
very  subject — say  from  Cardinal  Manning  or  Cardinal  Newman. 
He  thanks  you  warmly;  he  will  read  it  with  great  pleasure;  not 
now;  he  has  not  time;  but  soon.  The  article  could  be  read  in  five 
minutes.  It  is  placed  on  his  table;  perhaps  it  speedily  finds  its  way 
unread,  into  his  waste  basket,  or  it  is  labelled  carefully,  placed 
where  it  may  be  easily  found;  and  then  it  is  forgotten.  Meanwhile 
he  and  his  family  consume  hours  every  day  in  reading  non-Catholic 
newspapers  and  periodicals,  some  of  which  contain  things  which 
every  Catholic  should  conscientiously  abstain  from  reading.  This 
is  no  fancy  sketch.  Every  observing  Catholic  writer  knows  that  it 
is  true. 

As  regards  Catholic  young  men  and  young  women,  and  Catho- 
lics of  the  less  educated  class,  it  is  notorious  that  they  spend  dollars 
for  sensational,  trashy  “story  papers  ” and  novels,  where  they  spend 
five  cents  for  a Catholic  newspaper. 

There  is  still  another  class;  Catholics  who  attend  to  their  relig- 
ious duties,  and  take  a daily  or  weekly  non-Catholic  paper  for  the 
sake  of  reading  the  “news,”  but  who  take  no  Catholic  newspaper, 
no  Catholic  journal  or  periodical  of  any  description;  who  are  con- 


52 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


tent  to  be  as  ignorant  as  “a  heathen  ” of  all  that  is  going  on  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  outside  of  their  own  parish,  who  hear  and  know 
nothing  whatever  of  what  is  going  on  even  in  their  own  diocese, 
who  know  nothing  whatever  about  what  the  church  is  doing  through- 
out our  country,  or  in  Europe,  Asia,  or  Africa;  nothing  whatever 
about  the  movements  of  its  enemies,  nothing  about  what  it  is  doing 
in  defence  of  the  truth  and  for  the  welfare  of  society,  nothing  what- 
ever about  its  great  charitable  and  missionary  operations.  The  Holy 
Father  might  be  tortured  or  murdered  or  driven  from  Rome,  and 
they  would  remain  ignorant  of  it  until  told  of  it  by  some  better 
informed  fellow-Catholic,  or  by  some  sneering,  scoffing  11011-Catholic 
acquaintance. 

The  Catholic  newspaper  press  cannot  be  what  it  ought  to  be, 
and  what  it  might  be,  until  it  is  much  more  generally  and  gener- 
ously sustained.  This  we  state  emphatically  as  a self-evident  fact. 

To  obtain  these,  the  owners,  managers  and  editors  of  Catholic 
newspapers  must,  as  a necessary  perequisite  and  despite  their  lim- 
ited resources,  strenuously  strive  to  make  their  respective  journals 
more  worthy  of  support  than  very  many  of  them  now  are. 

Where  are  we  to  look  for  a remedy?  We  reply  unhesitatingly, 
to  the  Catholic  clergy.  Without  their  active , practical  assistance, 
owners,  managers,  and  editors  of  Catholic  newspapers  will  labor  in 
vain  to  secure  for  their  publications  the  support  they  ought  to  have, 
and  which,  for  the  proper  promotion  of  Catholic  interests  it  is  neces- 
sary for  them  to  have.  We  have  the  good  will  of  the  Catholic 
clergy  so  far  as  general  approval  and  desire  for  our  success  go;  but 
these  are  not  enough.  We  need,  we  require  their  earnest,  active 
efforts  to  increase  the  Circulation  of  Catholic  newspapers  in  every 
one  of  their  respective  parishes. 

Our  Holy  Father  has  blessed  Catholic  writers  and  their  work, 
and  especially  Catholic  journalists.  The  fathers  of  the  third  plen- 
ary council  of  Baltimore  have  repeated  that  blessing.  They 
declare  that  those  of  them  who  give  themselves  faithfully  to  the 
work  are  worthy  of  all  praise,  and  that  their  memory  will  lie  held 
in  benediction.  They  desire  that  their  numbers  and  strength  shall 
daily  increase.  They  desire  that  the  circulation  of  Catholic  jour- 
nals shall  be  greatly  enlarged.  But  these  same  fathers  also  declare 
in  their  pastoral  address: 

“But  all  this  will  be  only  words  in  the  air,  unless  it  can  be 
brought  home  to  each  parent  and  made  practical  in  each  household. 
If  the  head  of  each  Catholic  family  will  recognize  it  as  his  privilege 
and  his  duty  to  contribute  toward  supporting  the  Catholic  press  by 
subscribing  for  one  or  more  Catholic  periodicals  and  keeping  him- 
self well  acquainted  with  the  information  they  impart,  then  the 
Catholic  press  will  be  sure  to  attain  its  rightful  development  and  to 
accomplish  its  destined  mission.” 

Who  can  reach  the  heads  of  Catholic  families — reach  them 
effectively?  The  Catholic  press,  using  its  best  efforts,  employing  the 
most  successful  canvassers,  cannot.  We  mean  cannot  without  the 
active  assistance  of  our  prelates  and  clergy.  Even  with  their 
assistance  it  will  be  a difficult  work.  We  have  the  testimony  of 
worthy,  zealous  priests  who  have  energetically  labored  to  increase 
the  circulation  of  Catholic  newspapers  in  their  respective  parishes, 
that  their  efforts  were  attended  with  but  little  succees.  Yet,  diffi- 
cult as  the  work  is,  it  must  be  undertaken,  continued,  and  persevered 
in,  until  success  crowns,  as  success  eventually  will  crown  it,  if  it  be 
thus  carried  on.  For  until  this  work  is  accomplished,  the  Catholic 
press  of  our  country,  to  a great  extent,  will  fail  to  fulfil  its  high 
mission,  but  when  it  shall  have  been  accomplished,  then  will  our 
Catholic  periodical  press  become,  as  our  Holy  Father,  Leo  XIII, 
urges  it  should  strive  to  become — a most  efficient  and  potent  instru- 
mentality for  advancing  the  highest  interests  of  society  and  defend- 
ing the  church.  ( Applause.) 


MR.  McGLOIN’S  PAPER. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  for  its  mission  to  save  souls;  to  that 
end,  she  labors  to  render  men  believing  and  moral.  Every  agenc\', 
therefore,  affecting  human  belief,  or  human  conduct,  interests  her 
deeply. 

No  one  ignores  the  vast  influence  of  the  press.  The  16,319 
periodicals  of  the  United  States,  with  their  33,260,750  subscribers, 
are  a potent  factor  in  moulding  the  opinions  and  sentiments  of  our 
people.  Sentiment  and  opinion  govern  a nation;  and,  usually, 
they  rule  also  the  individual.  They  constitute  a moral  force  of  first 
magnitude.  Brave  and  pure  public  sentiment  indicates  a brave  and 
pure  people;  one  which  is  corrupt  bespeaks  a populace,  itself 
corrupted. 


The  press,  by  reason  of  its  influence  over  the  popular  mind  and 
heart,  challenges  in  an  especial  manner  the  attention  of  the  church. 
So  far  as  it  is  capable  of  accomplishing,  and  does  accomplish,  evil,  it 
is  to  be  combatted;  so  far  as  it  is  an  instrument  for  working  wide- 
spread and  enduring  good,  it  is  to  be  seized  upon  and  put  to  its 
fullest  use.  Considering  the  gigantic  proportions  to  which  the  press 
has  attained  in  this  country,  it  would  seem  that,  as  yet,  the  church 
has  not  accomplished  a great  deal  in  the  way  of  enlisting  its 
services  in  her  own  particular  behalf.  Out  of  the  16,319  periodi- 
cals published  in  all  the  United  States,  about  100  only  are  in 
the  particular  service  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Of  the  remaining 
mass,  a large  proportion  is  distinctly  anti-Catholic,  including 
Protestant,  Jewish,  and  infidel  publications,  and  a considerable 
number  of  secular  ones.  What  remains  cannot,  from  the  strictly 
Catholic  standpoint,  be  regarded  as  with  us.  The  Catholic  Church 
is  the  church  of  authority  and  discipline,  and  of  resulting  spiritual 
unity.  The  non-Catholic  press,  as  a rule,  is  antagonistic  to  the 
idea  of  authority  in  matters  spiritual;  and  its  influence  is  strongly 
against  religious  unity.  In  pursuit  of  the  sensational,  the  secular 
press  opens  its  columns  to  matter  against  faith  and  morals;  and 
such  matter  it  introduces  into  the  innermost  family  circle.  In 
addition,  there  is  to  accomplish  this  same  work,  an  increasing  flood 
of  romances,  novels,  novelettes,  dramas,  etc.;  all  anti-Catholic, 
more  or  less,  in  expression  or  sentiment.  The  result  of  all  is  that  the 
task  of  the  church  is  rendered  far  more  difficult  and  laborious. 

If  the  church  finds  herself  at  such  disadvantage  in  this  regard, 
it  is  because  her  children  are  not  yet  practically  awakened  to  the 
importance  of  this  matter.  Sentimentally  they  are  with  the  Catho- 
lic journal  ; but,  when  it  comes  to  subscribing  and  advertising,  too 
many  of  them  place  their  patronage  elsewhere.  There  are  large 
business  establishments  in  New  Orleans  owned  in  whole  or  part  by 
Catholics,  some  of  which  advertise  largely  in  secular  prints,  who 
turn  the  cold  shoulder  to  the  solicitors  of  our  Catholic  journals.  It 
is  the  same  in  other  places.  In  the  great  city  of  New  York,  there 
is  a Jewish  journal,  rated  at  less  than  4,000  circulation,  which, 
nevertheless,  shows  in  its  columns  fifty-three  distinct  advertisers, 
having  names  undoubtedly  Irish,  and  hence  presumably  Catholic. 
It  is  needless  to  state  that  the  same  names  are  strangers  to  the 
columns  of  the  New  York  Catholic  journals,  although  many  of  the 
latter  have  many  times  larger  circulations  than  the  Hebrew  period- 
ical already  referred  to.  When  it  comes  to  subscribing,  compare 
the  aggregate  of  circulation  for  all  the  Catholic  journals  of  onr 
Union  with  the  millions  known  to  belong  to  the  church  in  this 
country,  and  it  will  be  surprising  to  observe  what  a large  proportion 
of  our  American  Catholic  population  there  is  which  does  absolutely 
nothing  for  Catholic  journalism. 

If  Catholic  journals  were  of  inferior  character,  or  if  advertising 
in  their  columns  were  waste  of  money,  such  a state  of  affairs  would 
be  justifiable.  But,  as  a rule,  Catholic  publications  are  fully  up  to 
the  standard.  As  to  advertising,  other  things  equal,  they  furnish  a 
medium  which  is  exceptionally  excellent.  All  taking  such  journals 
do  so  because  of  a special  interest  in  the  cause  they  serve.  Such 
publications,  therefore,  have  the  particular  affections  of  their  readers, 
all  of  whom  are  deeply  interested  in  their  success.  Advertisers  con- 
tribute largely  to  the  maintenance  of  a journal ; hence,  the}^  are  in  a 
sense  cooperators  in  the  work  such  journal  is  accomplishing.  This 
should  be  a bond  of  sympathy  between  reader  and  advertiser,  of  the 
greatest  value  to  the  latter. 

Our  American  Catholic  population,  as  a mass,  is  devoted  and 
generous.  The  numerous  and  magnificent  churches  and  schools 
and  charitable  institutions  of  all  kinds  which  they  have  erected  and 
are  maintaining,  afford  convincing  proof  of  this.  The  difficulty  is, 
as  already  intimated,  that  our  people  are  not  yet  awake  to  the 
necessity  under  which  the  church  is,  of  a strong  Catholic  press,  to 
serve  as  an  antidote  to  all  which  is  poisonous  in  the  anti-Catholic 
press,  as  also  in  anti-Catholic  literature  ; and  to  serve  as  a powerful 
and  faithful  assistant  of  the  Catholic  pulpit,  in  the  dissemination  ot 
truth.  So  soon  as  our  people  are  thoroughly  aroused  in  the  prem- 
ises, then  shall  we  see  the  Catholic  press  growing  into  splendid 
proportions. 

It  is  high  time  for  earnest  Catholics  to  enter  upon  the  work  of 
dissipating  this  lethargy.  The  same  piety  which  is  building  and 
maintaining  churches,  schools,  and  institutions,  must  take  the  Cath- 
olic press  into  favor;  it  must  expend  a portion  of  its  zeal  in  this 
direction.  It  should  be  no  longer  possible  to  say  of  excellent  Cath- 
olic men  and  women  that  they  are  zealous  and  charitable  in  every 
quarter,  but  for  Catholic  journalism  they  are  without  the  slightest 
concern.  Money  and  labor  expended  in  behalf  of  the  Catholic  press 
is  well  and  nobly  expended,  and  must  be  highly  meritorious  in  the 


Charles  J.  Bonaparte, 
Baltimore,  Md. 


Conde  B.  Pallen, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 


George  Dering  Wolff, 

Norristown,  Pa. 


Richard  H.  Clarke, 

New  York,  N.  Y. 


William  Richards, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Manly  Tello. 

Cleveland,  O. 


Edmund  F.  Dunne. 
San  Antonio,  Fla. 


Heman  Allen, 

Chicago,  111. 


54 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


sight  of  Almighty  God.  The  rich  should  give  of  their  substance, 
either  by  way  of  contribution  or  advertising,  and  even  the  poor 
should  assist  at  least  by  subscribing  for  some  one  Catholic  periodical. 

The  simplest  consideration  must  satisfy  all  of  the  truth  of  these 
observations,  and  history  may  be  appealed  to  for  further  enforce- 
ment. All  are  aware  of  the  frightful  work  accomplished,  not  many 
generations  ago,  by  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  Diderot,  D’Alembert,  and 
a horde  of  other  atheists  and  disorganizes.  Infidelity  and  the 
spirit  of  revolution  were  disseminated  within  a remarkably  short 
space  of  time,  over  the  whole  civilized  world.  Religion  and  civil 
authority,  as  well,  were  shaken  to  their  very  foundations.  Chris- 
tian belief  was  wounded  almost  unto  death,  and  even  to  these  days 
the  grievous  wounds  then  inflicted  are  not  healed. 

The  wonder  is,  how  these  men  accomplished,  in  so  short  a space 
of  time,  such  immense  and  hideous  results.  History  informs  us 
that  they  seized  for  this  purpose  upon  the  printing  press,  sending 
forth  a flood  of  evil  writings  to  poison  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
people.  We  may  now  consider  another,  and  to  us  Catholics  a more 
grateful  picture.  I refer  to  the  glorious  and  yet  recent  victory 
achieved  by  brave  German  Catholics  over  the  great  iron  chancellor, 
Bismarck.  It  is  conceded,  that,  under  God,  this  speedy  and  brilliant 
victory  is  due  in  large  part  to  the  German  Catholic  press.  Had 
Germany,  in  the  days  of  Martin  Luther,  such  a Catholic  press  as 
now  she  has,  and  which  aided  so  nobly  in  abating  the  latest  Kultur- 
kampf,  there  would  never  have  been  any  effective  or  enduring  Ger- 
man Protestantism.  Had  there  been  in  France,  during  the  sad 
days  of  Voltaire,  a strong  Christian  press  to  disseminate  swiftly 
and  afar  the  truth,  atheism  would  never  have  snatched  away  so 
many  souls  to  perdition. 

Considering  the  potency  of  the  press,  we  may  rest  assured  that 
Almighty  God  did  not  disclose  it  to  mankind  in  order  that  it  might 
serve  mainly  as  an  instrument  of  evil.  In  his  own  good  time  he 
will  establish  his  invincible  dominion  over  it,  and  bend  its  prin- 
cipal force  into  the  service  of  religion.  It  is  not  out  of  place  to 
speculate  with  humble  spirit  upon  the  visible  methods  which  it  is 
possible  he  may  employ  to  this  end.  Indeed,  it  may  even  be  that 
he  himself  shall  inspire,  during  the  course  of  such  reflection,  a happy 
thought  which  shall  serve  to  point  the  way  his  servants  are  to  take,  in 
order  to  bring  about  a speedier  accomplishment  of  his  holy  designs. 

Mother  church  in  the  past  has  had  many  up-springing  evils  to 
combat,  as  now  she  has  a strong  anti-Catholic  printing  press  to  deal 
with.  She  has  always  found  effective  weapons  for  warfare.  Vari- 
ous heresies  have  been  occasions  for  the  founding  of  magnificent 
preaching  orders;  the  attempt  to  force  Godless  education  upon  her 
children,  has  brought  forward  the  powerful  and  spreading  teaching 
bodies  which  are  winning  for  the  church  a position  of  dominance 
in  the  educational  field. 

May  we  not  have  here  the  key  to  our  whole  situation  ? Why 
should  the  church  not  meet  this  particular  evil  as  she  has  met  so 
many  others  in  the  past,  by  the  establishment  of  religious  orders, 
whose  special  mission  shall  be  the  upbuilding  of  a great  Catholic 
press  and  publishing  interest?  A journal  in  our  day  is  an  expensive 
affair.  Editor,  reporter,  type-writer,  solicitor,  carrier,  all  must  be 
paid;  and  the  outgo  is  something  the  magnitude  of  which  requires 
experience  in  order  to  appreciate  it. 

We  have  noble  religious  orders,  which  give  their  time  to  culti- 
vating the  earth,  others  to  preaching,  others  to  educating,  and  so 
on.  Those  composing  such  orders  labor  for  no  earthly  reward;  the 
enterprises,  therefore  in  which  they  engage  are  not  mortgaged  to 
Mammon.  These  orders  and  religious  bodies  have  their  particular 
missions,  already  clearly  defined,  and  the  great  works  in  which  they 
are  engaged  demand  now  as  earnestly  as  ever  their  untiring  devo- 
tion. It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the}"  shall  now  enter  upon  new 
and  different  courses.  Nor  would  it  be  adequate  for  any  order  or 
body  to- adopt  this  new  mission  as  a secondary  or  collateral  work. 
We  are  dealing  with  a matter  of  primary  importance;  and  to  build 
up  Catholic  publication  to  the  proportions  peremptorily  demanded, 
in  order  that  it  may  grapple  with  a mighty  foe  in  every  place  and 
upon  every  field,  demands  the  entire  as  well  as  the  best  efforts  of  all 
who  may  undertake  the  great  and  glorious  work. 

It  is  possible,  nay  probable,  that  Almighty  God  will  soon  inspire 
generous  hearts  to  devote  themselves,  as  in  other  fields  others  have 
done  and  still  are  doing,  to  Catholic  journalistic  and  publishing 
work.  The  church  would  then  be  emancipated  from  the  crushing 
expense  which  now  stands  as  a bar  in  the  way.  She  could  plant 
her  journals  and  erect  her  publishing  houses  in  every  locality,  just  as 
now  she  is  planting  everywhere  her  colleges,  academies,  and  schools. 
She  could  flood  the  land  with  clean  and  Catholic  reading,  at  prices 
which  deny  refusal. 


Of  course,  the  secular  and  non-Catholic  press,  and  non-Catho- 
lic  publishing  interests  in  general,  can  always  take  care  of  them- 
selves- as  now  they  are  doing.  But,  alongside  of  the  already  im- 
mense non-Catholic  publishing  interests,  would  grow  up  speedily  a 
Catholic  one,  to  become  with  time  equally  as  great  and  well  capable 
of  defending  the  cause  of  Catholicism  in  its  every  respect.  We 
would  have  the  two  presses  side  by  side,  as  we  now  have  two  school 
systems,  ramifying  everywhere  throughout  the  land. 

These  ideas  are  probably  not  original  with  the  writer.  Others 
may  or  may  not  have  thought  them  and  even  made  them  public. 
All  that  the  writer  desired  was  to  cast  them  forth  before  this  great 
representative  body,  to  be  taken  for  what  they  are  worth.  Per- 
chance, they  may  float  afar,  and  finding  somewhere  a congenial  soil, 
with  God’s  grace,  spring  into  life,  and  bring  forth  with  time  fair 
fruit.  Should  this,  through  the  providence  of  God,  arise  in  his  day, 
the  writer,  with  certain  friends,  would  hope  to  be  placed  in  early 
communication  with  the  movement,  so  that,  according  to  their 
means  and  state  of  life,  they  might  be  among  the  number  of  its  ear- 
liest friends  and  helpers. 


MILTON  E.  SMITH’S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  I desire,  with  your  permission, 
to  make  a few  remarks  relative  to  the  paper  on  the  Catholic  press, 
which  has  just  been  read;  a paper  prepared  by  a gentleman  who, 
from  education  and  experience,  is  amply  qualified  to  discuss  and 
criticise  Catholic  publications.  That  they  are  not  the  ideals  which 
every  Catholic,  and  especially  every  Catholic  editor,  desires,  cannot 
be  refuted.  However,  when  we  pass  judgment  upon  the  efforts  of 
those  who  in  conducting  the  Catholic  press  are  standing  in  the 
front  ranks  of  controversy,  giving  and  receiving  blows  in  defence 
of  our  holy  mother  church,  we  should  not  forget  the  relative  con- 
dition of  Catholic  literature  to-day  and  at  the  time  the  mitre  was 
first  placed  upon  the  brow  of  the  illustrious  Archbishop  Carroll. 
One  hundred  years  ago  Catholic  publications  were  restricted  by  the 
prejudice  and  bigotry  which  for  three  centuries  environed  English 
Catholics  and  weighed  down  English  Catholic  literature.  To-day 
all  this  has  been  changed,  and  we  have  Catholic  books" in  the 
English  language  without  number,  whilst  Catholic  newspapers  are 
within  the  reach  of  all.  Considering  the  shadows  from  which 
English  Catholic  literature  has  recently  emerged,  we  must  not 
demand  too  much  from  Catholic  writers  or  Catholic  publishers;  but 
whilst  urging  them  to  strive  to  reach  the  highest  plane  of  excellence 
we  should  inform  the  people  generally  that  the  Catholic  press  stands 
in  need  not  only  cf  material  assistance,  but  especially  of  moral  sup- 
port. We  must  not  forget  that  the  Catholic  newspaper  caters  for  a 
different  constituency  from  that  of  the  magazines  or  reviews,  conse- 
quently it  can  reach  an  ideal  plane  only  when  the  masses  become 
more  highly  cultivated.  In  spite  of  all  its  environments  the 
Catholic  press  has  done  a grand  work  in  aiding  to  carry  the  cross 
over  our  prairies,  up  the  side  of  the  mountains  towards  the  setting 
sun.  It  has  ever  proved  loyal  to  the  church  and  loyal  to  him,  who, 
though  a prisoner  by  the  classic  banks  of  the  Tiber,  robbed  of  his 
patrimony,  stripped  by  an  infamous  government  of  possessions  to 
which  he  has  a clearer  title  than  any  monarch  of  Europe,  has  never 
failed  to  raise  his  voice  in  defence  of  those  eternal  principles  of 
liberty  which  were  first  declared  on  the  soil  of  this  grand  old  com- 
monwealth on  which  we  now  stand.  By  the  aid  of  the  Catholic 
press,  noble  cathedrals  have  been  erected  in  our  cities,  beautiful 
churches  in  less  populous  centres,  and  hundreds  of  chapels  on  the 
sides  of  our  mountains,  where  the  holy  missionary,  in  torn  and 
faded  vestments,  celebrates  the  same  holy  sacrifice  offered  beneath 
the  venerable  basilicas  of  the  eternal  city.  If  the  Catholic  press 
has  been  true  in  the  past  to  its  great  mission,  we  may  hope  that, 
with  the  dawn  of  the  new  era  which  is  ushered  in  by  the  one  hun- 
dredth anniversary  of  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Carroll,  it  will  go 
forward  fearless  in  its  support  of  all  the  rights  of  Catholics  and 
non- Catholics,  and  bold,  yet  prudent,  in  demanding  the  freedom  of 
the  Holy  See. 

William  L-  Kelly,  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  said  : Most  Reverend 
Fathers , Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  First  Catholic  Congress 
of  the  United  States:  You  have  listened  on  behalf  of  the  Catholic 
press,  to  words  from  a gentleman  who  comes  to  you  from  the  far 
south,  and  has  spoken  in  language  as  warm  as  the  waters  of 
the  glorious  gulf  that  encircles  his  Crescent  City,  and  with  a force 
equal  to  its  billows.  (Applause.)  Will  you  listen  patiently  to  a 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


55 


stranger  who  comes  to  you  from  the  far  north,  from  that  city  bear- 
ing the  name  of  the  apostle  to  the  gentiles,  that  city  that  stands 
like  a queen  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi?  (Applause.)  I 
have  asked  your  patience,  for  I tell  you  as  an  honest  man  in 
advance,  that  some  things  I may  say  here  may  not  have  the  same 
ring  to  them  that  have  been  expressed  in  articles  before  mine  upon 
the  same  subject.  When  His  Grace  the  archbishop  of  St.  Paul 
(applause),  whom  I consider  it  an  honor  to  say  is  my  friend,  sent 
for  me  and  told  me  that  upon  this  occasion  I would  be  expected  to 
address  this  august  body,  upon  a subject  so  vital,  so  pregnant,  and 
so  burning  as  that  of  education  in  these  United  States,  and  realizing 
the  tremendous  responsibility  of  the  task  that  he  was  then  placing 
upon  me, and  realizing  my  utter  unfitness  for  that  responsibility,  I said 
to'liim,  “Sir,  it  is  impossible,’’  what  was  the  answer  ? He  turned 
away  frapn  me  as  Napoleon  Bonaparte  turned  from  his  chief  engineer, 
after  he  had  laid  out  a route  for  crossing  the  Alps,  and  when  the 
engineer  had  reached  the  foot  of  the  Alps  told  him  that  the  route 
was  not  practicable,  he  said,  “Well,  that  is  all  settled,  we  will  push 
forward  at  once.”  And  so  Archbishop  Ireland  said  to  me,  “ I am 
glad  it  is  all  settled  ; you  will  read  the  paper.  ’ ’ (Laughter  and 
applause.)  So  I am  here  to  read  it.  The  mistakes  are  all  mine  ; 
lay  them  upon  my  unworthy  shoulders  ; that  which  is  good  in  this 
paper  apply  to  my  holy  mother,  the  Catholic  Church. 

MR.  KELLY’S  PAPER. 

In  that  act  “done  by  the  United  States  in  congress  assembled, 
the  13th  day  of  July,  A.U.  1787,  and  of  their  sovereignty  and  inde- 
pendence the  12th  ” entitled,  “ An  ordinance  for  the  government  ot 
the  territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio,”  I read  these  articles,  as 
the  law  of  the  land. 

“ No  person  demeaning  himself  in  a peaceable  and  orderly 
manner,  shall  ever  be  molested  on  account  of  his  mode  of  worship, 
or  religious  sentiments  in  said  territories.  * * * 

“There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in 
the  said  territory,  otherwise  than  in  punishment  of  crime,  whereoi 
the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted.  * * * 

“ Religion , morality,  and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good 
government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  oj 
education  shall  forever  be  encouraged.  ’ ’ 

Virginia,  great-hearted  mother  of  states,  had  just  ceded  to  the 
Union  this  northwest  territory.  Out  of  it  were  to  be  created  the 
commonwealths  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
in  large  part  Minnesota,  with  every  foot  of  their  glorious  soil  thus 
made  consecrate  forever  to  freedom,  to  knowledge,  and  to  God.  As 
our  fathers  pledged  all  futurity  that  never  within  those  borders 
should  any  peaceable  and  orderly  person  be  questioned  for  his  relig- 
ious faith  or  practice,  and  as  they  set  apart  that  land  for  all  time,  to 
be  the  home  of  free  men  and  forbade  slavery  therein,  so  they  linked 
in  a trinity  of  beauty  and  of  power  to  be  then  and  thenceforward 
fostered  and  encouraged,  these  three  essentials  to  good  government 
and  human  happiness,  religion,  morality^  and  knowledge. 

O,  lawgivers  of  the  past!  O,  prophets  of  the  voiceless  future! 
a good  angel  inspired  you  to  write  these  words  in  this  ancient  char- 
ter! In  point  of  time  it  precedes  the  United  States  constitution. 
Before  the  constitution  was  adopted  and  the  government  of  law 
formed  under  it  began,  this  charter  had  fixed  for  all  time  the  status 
of  a great  people.  And  when  the  infidel  tells  me  in  his  scoffing,  or 
the  timid  Christian  cries  out  in  his  fear  that  God’s  name  is  not 
found  in  the  constitution  of  my  country,  I answer  that  before  the 
constitution  was,  God’s  inspiration  and  spirit  had  breathed  into  this 
organic  law,  and  it  became  a living  thing,  and  that  from  it  that 
spirit  has  passed  into  every  constitution  in  the  land. 

Those  were  brave  words,  bravely  spoken.  They  should  be 
written  in  letters  of  gold  011  every  law  book  — on  even-  text  book 
of  the  schools  — they  should  be  treasured  in  every  heart.  What  is 
still  better,  our  policies  should  conform  to  this  law,  both  in  the  letter 
and  in  the  spirit.  If  we  have  followed  in  the  right  path,  we  should 
continue  therein.  If  mistakes  have  been  made,  they  should  be 
corrected. 

The  lawgivers  said,  that  religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  are 
necessary  to  good  goverment  and  the  happiness  of  mankind.  They 
were  choice  and  vigorous  in  their  language.  It  is  just  as  though  it 
was  written,  that  without  religion,  morality,  and  knowledge,  good 


government  is  impossible.  But  why  did  they  add  that  “ schools  and 
the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged”  unless  they 
understood  that  in  the  schools  all  these  essentials  to  human  happi- 
ness should  be  taught?  While  this  ordinance  applied  in  terms  only 
to  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  yet  it  was  the  legally 
expressed  will  of  the  whole  people.  It  was  your  law,  gentlemen, 
from  New  England  and  from  the  middle  and  southern  and  western 
states,  as  well  as  ours,  inhabitants  of  the  northwest  territory.  Again, 
what  was  then  and  what  to-day  is  this  northwest  territory?  When 
this  law  was  written,  all  that  land  was  untrodden  by  white  men’s 
feet,  save  where  the  armed  men  in  the  service  of  France  and  England 
had  pressed  the  gatherers  of  gold  into  the  wilderness,  or  where  those 
gatherers  of  souls  in  God’s  sendee,  the  Catholic  priests,  without 
sword  or  script,  had  carried  the  eternal  cross  far  beyond  the  armed 
outposts  of  these  two  great  nations.  Though  the  forests  were  dark 
and  trackless,  though  the  rivers,  broad  and  deep,  though  the  great 
lakes  stood  as  insurmountable  barriers  in  their  way,  though  savage 
red  men  met  them  at  every  turn,  though  death  at  the  hands  of  more 
savage  white  men  shadowed  them  every  step,  in  spite  of  all  these, 
and  heeding  only  the  Master’s  command,  “Go,  teach  all  nations,” 
the  intrepid  members  of  the  company  of  Jesus  had  carried  the  story 
of  Calvary  northward  to  the  head  waters  of  Lake  Superior,  westward 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  southward  to  the  Arkansas.  From  the  ocean 
westward  they  had  breathed  upon  the  waters,  and  the  Catholic  names 
they  bear  to-day  attest  their  presence. 

They  laid  their  holy  hands  upon  the  heart  of  the  wilderness, 
and  it  throbbed,  responsive  to  their  touch. 

The  most  of  them  stepped  from  the  martyr’s  stake  up  to  the 
throne  of  God.  Their  names  passed,  for  a time,  from  the  common 
talk  of  the  people.  But,  after  the  lapse  of  the  centuries,  the  glo- 
rious Catholic  harvest  that  has  sprung  from  the  ground  they  trod 
has  proven  again,  if  it  needs  be,  that  “ the  blood  of  the  martyr  is  the 
seed  of  the  church.  ’ ’ 

From  about  3,000,000  people  at  the  time  of  the  ordinance, 
the  country  has  grown  to  about  60,000,000.  Within  the  limits  of 
the  northwest  territory  now  are  at  least  one-fourth  the  entire  popula- 
tion. One-third  of  the  nation’s  wealth  is  there.  One-fourth  of  the 
railroad  mileage,  and  over  one-fourth  of  the  school  children.  And 
last,  but  not  least  to  us,  about  one-fourth  the  entire  Catholic  people. 
This  in  an  area  embracing  only  five  states  and  part  of  a sixth,  ot 
this  Union. 

We  have  seen,  by  a logical  deduction  from  the  reason  which  the 
fathers  gave  for  the  law,  what  they  understood  by  the  term  edu- 
cation. Of  course,  in  its  comprehensive  sense,  education  is  not 
limited  by  that  which  is  learned  in  the  schools.  It  begins  at  the 
mother’s  knee  and  ends  with  the  grave.  All  life  is  educational,  and 
some  of  the  hardest  and  most  useful  lessons  are  those  of  experience. 
What,  then,  in  its  ordinary  meaning,  is  education?  What  is  the 
ultimate  object  of  education?  How  is  that  object  best  attained? 

These  questions  are  suggestive  each  of  a weighty  problem, — 
problems  that  have  engaged  the  earnest  thought  of  the  ablest  minds  of 
our  own  country  and  the  world.  In  this  discussion,  two  great  parties 
have  arisen, — both  agreeing  that  education  should  be  general  and 
for  the  people,  the  one  holding  that  this  popular  education  must  be 
entirely  secular,  the  other  maintaining  that  no  education  is  worth 
the  having  that  is  not  founded  upon  religion  and  morals.  Holding 
the  latter  view  are  found  first  the  entire  Catholic  Church,  number- 
ing in  her  fold  about  one-sixth  of  the  whole  people.  To  these 
should  be  added  a large  and  most  respectable  minority  of  our  Prot- 
estant brethren,  notably  the  Episcopal  and  Lutheran  churches,  and 
a very  large  contingent  from  all  the  other  Protestant  Chiistian 
bodies.  That  a solution  of  this  question  absolutely  satisfactory  to 
the  Christian  peoples  of  these  states  and  good  to  the  nation  has  not 
been  reached,  is  due  largely,  I add  in  passing,  First,  to  the  absence 
of  positive  fairness  on  each  side  in  the  discussion.  Second,  to  the 
prejudice  against  or  fear  of  the  Catholic  Church  still  honestly  enter- 
tained by  many  of  our  Protestant  brethren.  Third,  to  the  activity 
of  the  infidel  and  indifferentist  in  using  these  fears  and  prejudices, 
and  by  thus  dividing  upon  a question  vital  to  both,  the  great  Chris- 
tian bodies,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  shaping  the  school  policies  of 
the  land  to  their  own  ends. 

Upon  the  general  subject  of  education  it  is  hard  to  add  any- 
thing to  the  world's  stock  of  ideas.  Shakespeare  said,  “There  is 
nothing  new  under  the  sun.”  It  seems  that  on  this  vexed  question 
so  much  has  been  written  and  said,  that  the  fields  have  been  so 
thoroughly  reaped  by  skilled  hands  that  little  is  left  for  a mere 
gleaner  on  the  by-wavs.  But  truth  is  always  new,  though  many 
times  presented.  Therefore,  do  not  harshly  criticise  me  should  I 
tread  in  well  beaten  paths. 


56 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS . 


We  can  best  determine  what  education  means,  or  rather,  what 
it  ought  to  mean,  1)3'  asking  tne  question,  Why  was  man  created? 
The  catechism  says,  That  he  may  know  God,  love  him,  and  serve 
him  in  this  world  and  be  hap])}'  with  him  forever  in  the  next. 
Every  Christian  will  acknowledge  this  as  a verity.  If,  then,  the 
ultimate  object  of  man’s  creation,  and  his  residence  on  this  earth  is 
his  eternal  salvation,  it  follows  as  a logical  sequence  that  whatever 
tends  most  directly  to  that  end  is  best  for  man.  And  as  none  can 
question  that  the  development  and  training  in  the  child  of  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  nature  within  him  is  by  far  the  most  important 
step  in  his  life,  and  tends  most  directly  either  to  make  or  mar  his 
future  for  time  and  eternity,  so  it  follows  that  it  is  all-important 
that  this  developing  and  training  process  be  not  one-sided  and 
imperfect,  but  that  it  be  thorough,  all-embracing,  and  honest.  Edu- 
cation means,  necessarily,  the  imparting  of  knowledge,  therefore, 
that  knowledge  which  is  most  essential  to  man’s  happiness,  here  and 
hereafter,  should  be  imparted  first,  and  should  certainly  not  be 
replaced  by  other  things  less  important.  The  knowledge  of  God 
embraces  the  knowledge  of  the  duties  man  owes  to  God,  to  his 
neighbor,  and  to  himself.  These,  it  seems  to  me,  are  the  first  essen- 
tials of  education.  With  these  any  man  can  be,  and  usually  will 
be,  a good  man,  a good  neighbor,  a good  citizen.  Without  these  he 
can  never  become  either. 

I can  illustrate:  One  day,  upon  a trial  of  some  importance,  a 
bright  bo}'  of  tender  years  was  introduced  to  a court  as  a witness. 
It  was  supposed  the  little  fellow  could  give  important  testimony, 
perhaps  bearing  heavily  upon  the  interests  of  one  of  the  parties 
litigant.  So  the  attorne}'  for  that  party  challenged  the  capacity  of 
the  child  to  testify,  being  too  young  to  understand  the  nature  of  an 
oath.  The  judge  opened  a catechism  class  of  one,  and  after  asking 
a few  indifferent  questions  to  get  the  full  attention  of  the  proposed 
witness,  asked:  “Who  made  you,  Johnny?”  “God  made  me,  sir,’’ 
was  the  prompt  repl}\  “Why  did  God  make  you,  my  bo}'?” 
“That  I may  know  him  and  love  him  and  serve  him  in  this  world 
and  be  happ}'  with  him  forever  in  the  next,”  was  the  answer. 
“Your  Honor,”  said  the  opposing  law}rer,  “I  withdraw  all  objec- 
tion, and  waive  the  oath.”  He  knew  instinctively,  as  we  all  do, 
that  this  little  witness  would  tell  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but 
the  truth.  To  ni}T  mind,  that  child’s  education  had  been  commenced 
right. 

Webster,  defining  the  word,  says,  “Education  is  properl}'  to 
draw  forth,  and  implies  not  so  much  the  communication  of  knowl- 
edge as  the  discipline  of  the  intellect,  the  establishment  of  the 
principles,  and  the  regulation  of  the  heart" — to  develop  the  whole 
man,  to  lead  him  out  from  the  darkness  into  light,  to  store,  but  not 
to  crowd  the  memory  with  useful  data;  to  quicken  and  discipline 
the  reasoning  powers;  to  render  the  mind  apt  to  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  in  the  future  as  time  affords  opportunity;  but  above  all 
and  first  of  all,  to  develop  the  moral  and  religious  faculties.  In  a 
word,  to  make  him  conscious  of  his  God-given  powers,  and  humble 
and  grateful  in  the  ever-presence  of  the  Giver,  is  to  educate.  Our 
fathers  understood  this  well  when  they  said  “Schools  and  the 
means  of  education  shall  be  forever  encouraged,”  because  “religion, 
morality,  and  knowledge,”  the  three  essentials  to  perfect  education, 
are  “necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind.” 

Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature.  This  law  applies 
as  well  to  states  as  to  individuals.  Want  of  conscience  with  the 
lettered,  and  ignorance  with  the  masses  are  twin  enemies  of  social 
order.  This  is  especially  true  in  the  republic  when  so  much  depends 
upon  an  intelligent  intellect  dominated  by  a conscientious  will. 
The  records  of  the  courts  show  far  more  of  the  darker  crimes  against 
the  state  committed  by  polished  scoundrels  than  by  unlettered  and 
simple  men.  Against  these  the  state  lias  the  right  to  protect  itself. 
But  how  ? Not,  surely,  by  teaching  the  arts  of  reading,  writing, 
and  ciphering,  nor  by  adding  geography,  history,  grammar,  and  the 
like,  ad  infinitum.  These  alone  cannot  protect  the  state;  there  must 
be  religion,  morals,  and  manners  taught.  Why  should  the  state 
hesitate  to  teach  in  its  schools  that  which  every  day  it  publishes 
broadcast  in  its  laws  and  enforces  from  its  bench  ? Every  time  the 
state  punishes  homicide,  or  larceny,  or  perjury,  or  any  other  of  the 
common  law  crimes,  it  enforces  one  or  the  other  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments of  God.  Why  not  teach  the  children  that  they  shall  be 
truthful  because  Jehovah  hath  said,  “Thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness  against  thy  neighbor”?  Teach  them  to  be  honest,  not 
because  “Honesty  is  the  best  policy,  ” but  because  it  is  a command- 
ment of  God. 

But  it  is  said  this  is  but  the  natural  law  of  right  and  wrong,  and 
requires  no  positive  religious  teaching.  Let  us  see.  A child  is 
detected  in  a lie  and  punished.  The  child  may  be  puzzled  to  under- 


stand whether  the  punishment  is  because  of  the  lie,  or  because  he 
is  caught.  Therefore,  the  teacher  explains  it  is  sinful  to  lie,  but 
the  child  asks,  Why  is  it  sinful  ? The  answer  will  be,  Because  God 
has  commanded  men  to  speak  the  truth.  But  the  child  does  not 
know  who  God  is,  and  by  what  authority  he  commands  men.  And 
farther  on,  he  may  wish  to  know  how  God  can  enforce  his  com- 
mands. These  simple  and  logical  questions  must  be  answered.  So 
at  once  in  the  inculcation  of  the  simplest  of  the  moral  precepts  — call 
it  the  natural  law,  or  what  you  will  — the  teacher  must  impart  the 
positive  truths  of  revealed  religion,  or  be  silent  in  the  presence  of  a 
questioning  child.  I say  there  is  no  escape.  He  must  teach  posi- 
tive religion  if  he  teach  morals,  and  if  he  does  not  teach  morals,  he 
cheats  the  child  of  an  inalienable  right  to  be  fully  educated. 

Epictetus  wrote,  more  than  1,800  years  ago,  “You  will  do  the 
greatest  service  to  the  state  if  you  shall  raise,  not  the  roofs  of  the 
houses,  but  the  souls  of  the  citizens;  for  it  is  better  that  great  souls 
should  dwell  in  small  houses  rather  than  for  mean  slaves  to  lurk  in 
great  palaces.  ’ ’ 

And  this  is  voiced  by  an  American  poet  of  our  day: 

“God  give  us  men  ! 

Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  cannot  buy — 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  kill. 

Tall  men,  sun-crowned.” 

Sweet  singer  of  my  country,  God  gives  us  plastic  material  out 
of  which  men  like  these  may  be  fashioned.  But  a mistaken  system 
of  education  dwarfs  them  in  the  rearing.  You  dwarf  them  with  too 
much  materialism.  You  develop  and  quicken  the  brain,  but  leave 
the  heart,  where  conscience  dwells,  an  uncultivated  waste.  Hence, 
in  some  measure  at  least,  your  unanswered  cry  for  sun-crowned  men. 

The  fathers  in  the  ordinance  of  1787,  outlined  a correct  model. 
For  over  half  a century  the  nation  followed  that  plan.  This  is  aptly- 
expressed  by  a Protestant  writer,  Mr.  Washington  Gladden,  in  the 
Century  Magazme  for  April,  1886.  Mr.  Gladden  says: 

“ That  popular  education,  as  it  exists  in  this  country,  is  the 
offspring  of  the  religious  sentiment,  is  matter  of  history.  But,  like 
many  another  unfilial  child,  education  has  shown  a strong  disposition 
of  late  to  disown  and  desert  her  mother.  The  tendency  has  been 
gaining  strength  to  withdraw  education  from  all  association  with 
religion, -to  eliminate  religion  wholly  from  education,  and  to  claim 
for  education  all  the  saving  virtues  of  which  society  has  need.  There 
are  those  who  think  that  the  diffusion  of  science  and  literature  will 
prove  a sufficient  agency  for  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  the 
state,  and  that  the  learning  thus  diffused  may  be  but  must  be  sep- 
arated from  everything  that  bears  the  semblance  of  religion.” 

Continuing,  the  writer  speaks  of  the  religious  atmosphere  that 
pervaded  the  schools  in  his  early  days,  and  refers,  with  gratitude,  to 
the  “impressions  made  upon  our  lives  in  the  schoolroom  of  our 
early  days.”  But  he  sadly  adds,  “ All  this  has  been  rapidly  chang- 
ing; and  contemporaneously,  it  is  discovered  that  something  is  wrong 
with  society.  Grave  dangers  menace  its  peace;  ugly  evils  infest  its 
teeming  population;  pauperism  is  increasing.  * * * Crime  is 

increasing.” 

Nor  does  the  writer  content  himself  with  mere  assertion,  which 
it  would  seem,  so  patent  is  the  truth,  would  go  with  the  saying. 
He  proves  his  allegations  by  statistics  from  no  less  a state  than 
Massachusetts,  and  from  the  ranks  of  the  native-born  citizens  alone. 
The  ratio  of  crime  to  native  population  he  says  has  in  that  state 
doubled  in  the  last  thirty  years.  “And  this,”  says  Mr.  Gladden, 
“ be  it  remembered,  is  in  Massachusetts  — the  state  in  which  edu- 
cation of  every  kind,  public  and  private,  has  been  longer  established, 
and  is  more  magnificently  endowed  and  more  thoroughly  adminis- 
tered than  in  any  other  state  of  the  Union.  Massachusetts  expends, 
through  her  public  schools  for  the  tuition  of  every  pupil  enumerated 
in  her  school  population,  nearly  $16  a year.  Added  to  this  pub- 
lic provision  is  the  great  array  of  universities,  colleges,  academies, 
and  seminaries,  amply  endowed,  far  surpassing  those  of  every  other 
state  in  number  and  in  excellence.  What  education  can  do  to  pro- 
mote morality  has  been  more  thoroughly  done  for  Massachusetts 
than  for  any  other  American  state.  Nevertheless,  the  statistics 
show  an  alarming  increase  of  the  vicious  and  dependent  classes  in 
Massachusetts.  There  is  no  room  for  supposing  that  the  case  of 
Massachusetts  is  any  worse  than  that  of  the  younger  common- 
wealths. Those  who  have  had  opportunity  for  observing  the  con- 
ditions of  society,  east  and  west,  will  not  be  inclined  to  believe  that 
the  morals  of  the  old  Bay  State  are  any  lower  than  those  of  New- 
York,  Ohio,  or  Illinois.  If  other  states  would  collect  the  facts  as 
carefully,  and  publish  them  as  fully,  we  should  see  similar  condi- 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


57 


tions  existing  everywhere.”  In  order  that  these  quotations  may  be 
verified,  I refer  to  the  Century , Vol.  IX,  pp  938,  939,  art.,  “ Chris- 
tianity and  Popular  Education.”  I agree  with  Mr.  Gladden  that 
the  defects  in  the  public  schools  are  not  alone  responsible  for  this  sad 
condition.  Many  other  causes  concur.  But  a defective  educational 
system  must  answer  for  a part  of  the  moral  decadence  thus  noticed. 

Now  I refer  to  these  facts  not  in  reviling,  but  in  sorrow;  for, 
like  Mr.  Gladden,  I love  my  country  next  my  God,  and  I love  her 
magnificent  public  school  system  in  spite  of  all  its  defects.  Those 
defects  can  be  cured.  They  will  be  cured. 

To  say  that  a system  builded  with  so  much  care  — from  the 
humble  beginning  of  the  revolutionary  period  to  the  splendid  re- 
ality of  the  present — with  the  best  known  teaching  plans  — with 
an  army  of  skillful  and  accomplished  teachers,  men  and  women  — 
with  materal  appointments  unequalled  in  the  world  — disbursing 
over  $115,000,000  annually,  and  teaching  daily''  over  7,500,000 
scholars, — to  say  that  such  a system,  defective  as  it  is  in  one  vital 
particular,  should  be  destroyed  or  even  crippled,  is  madness,  and  no 
one  but  a madman  will  advocate  such  a course.  No!  No!  From 
the  humblest  log  cabin  in  the  remote  frontier  to  the  grandest  high 
school  in  our  crowded  cities,  these  schools  are  monuments  of  the 
patience  and  the  patriotism  of  the  people.  They  are  the  schools  of 
the  democracy  — I mean  it  in  its  broad,  not  in  its  party  sense.  In 
them  as  in  holy  church,  is  taught  the  absolute  equality  and 
brotherhood  of  man.  Bring  back  to  their  teachmg  positive  religion , so 
that  the  children  may  appreciate  the  fatherhood  of  God , and  we  have 
the  perfect  school,  and  the  perfect  school  system  as  far  as  human  frailty 
will  permit. 

Again  it  is  urged  that  the  state  being  absolutely  neutral  (not 
to  say  indifferent),  on  matters  of  religious  faith,  cannot  teach  re- 
ligion in  its  schools  for  the  reason  that  to  do  so  would  be  to  violate 
the  fundamental  law  which  guarantees  absolute  freedom  of  conscience 
to  every  citizen.  Now  this  objection  is  more  plausible  than  real. 
While  the  Protestant  body  is  unhappily  divided  into  many  denomi- 
tions,  there  are  not  such  radical  differences  in  the  dogmatic  doc- 
trines of  each  from  the  other  that  they  cannot  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses be  called  one  body.  So  that  we  have  the  Christian  community 
divided  into  Catholic  and  Protestant.  Of  the  non-Christian  people 
there  are  but  two  divisions  — Israelites  and  unbelievers.  No  man 
can  convince  me  that  the  honest,  earnest,  ingenious,  and  fertile 
American  brain  cannot,  if  it  wills,  or  will  not,  when  the  time  comes, 
discover  a way  to  have  religion  and  morals  taught  in  the  public 
schools,  openly  and  ho7iestly  taught,  and  thus  answer  the  crying 
need  of  the  state  for  self-protection,  without  offending  the  conscience 
of  Catholic  or  Protestant,  Israelite  or  infidel.  The  question  has  been 
solved  in  other  communities— Canada,  for  example;  it  can  be  solved 
in  ours.  I leave  the  when  and  the  how  of  this  question  to  my  sep- 
arated brethren,  for  in  a certain  sense  they  are  more  interested  than 
we  Catholics;  because  Catholics  have  already,  as  far  as  their  chil- 
dren are  concerned,  solved  it  for  themselves,  by  providing  their  own 
separate  schools.  I point  my  Christian  brethren  outside  the  church 
to  the  fact  that  the  ranks  of  infidelity  are  almost  wholly  recruited 
from  their  churches.  Is  it  not  the  absence  of  positive  religious 
teaching  in  the  public  schools,  which  is  thus  destroying  in  their 
children  the  faith  of  their  fathers  ? Are  the  children  of  the  Pilgrims 
to-day  the  same  sturdy,  unbending  Christians  as  were  their  sires  ? 
If  they  are  not,  why  are  thev  not  ? Let  honest  Protestants  answer 
these  questions  — there  can  be  but  one  answer  — and  apply  the 
remedy. 

I have  said  these  evils  will  be  remedied.  I am  no  prophet,  but 
I have  faith.  They  will  be  remedied  by  that  solid,  good,  common 
sense  and  patriotism  inherent  in  the  American  people  and  in  our 
republican  system  that  has  so  far  remedied,  successfully,  great  evils 
that  seemed  to  threaten  the  life  of  the  state. 

They  will  be  remedied  by  that  reaction  that  is  now  going  on 
among  our  separated  brethren  who  already  see  the  threatening 
danger.  They  will  be  remedied  by  that  pure  Christian  sentiment 
that  is  all-pervading  in  this  land.  For  despite  all  scoffers  may  say, 
or  pessimists  fear,  we  are  a Christian  people. 

What  that  Christian  sentiment  is,  and  as  applied  to  the  problem 
of  popular  education,  I cannot  forbear  quoting  some  vigorous  lan- 
guage from  Rev.  L-  O.  Brastow,  a Protestant  divine,  which  I find  in 
the  Catholic  World  of  June,  1884,  and  there  credited  to  the  New  Eng- 
lander of  January  previous.  In  an  article  entitled,  “ The  Religious 
Factor  in  Education,”  Mr.  Brastow  says: 

‘‘Education  is  nothing  less  than  the  development  and  training 
of  all  the  potencies  that  have  been  lodged  in  man.  It  concerns  itself 
with  the  full  contents  of  his  being  and  with  all  his  possibilities. 
The  claims  of  education  are  precisely  the  claims  of  manhood.  If 


the  idea  of  manhood  be  low,  the  product  of  training  will  be  meagre 
and  inadequate.  The  claims  of  religion  upon  education  are  precisely 
the  claims  of  a complete  manhood.  If  a man  is  worth  educating  at 
all  he  is  worth  educating  roundly  as  a man.  If  the  capacity -of 
religion  belongs  to  his  manhood  it  is  a crime  against  that  manhood 
to  ignore  its  rights  and  cripple  its  possibilities. 

‘‘So  long  as  man  is  forced  by  the  necessities  of  his  own  being  to 
recognize  a power  which  is  other  and  more  than  himself  and  other 
and  more  than  the  universe  in  which  he  lives,  so  long  religion  will 
hold  its  supremacy.  This  meagre  world  power  can  never  success- 
fully displace  that  which  represents  what  lies  beyond  the  world. 

‘‘There  were  nothing  to  educate  or  cultivate  if  there  were  not 
already  presupposed  an  original  God-consciousness  as  its  practical 
basis  and  condition.  A higher  world  and  a higher  power  thrust 
themselves  into  the  fore-front  of  all  our  investigation  of  this  lower 
world  and  all  lower  orders  of  existence. 

“ Man  must  be  trained  to  the  utmost  of  his  capacity,  and  that 
means  that  he  must  be  trained  religiously.  Education  can  never 
suppress  nor  displace  religion.  It  can  only  pervert  it,  and  in  doing 
so  perverts  itself.  Its  highest  aim  is  to  develop  religion  into  fulness 
of  significance  and  power. 

“Religion  will  not  take  itself  out  of  the  way;  cannot  be  explained 
out  of  existence;  cannot  be  trained  into  permanent  silence;  will  not 
be  ignored  and  cannot  be  majestically  put  to  confusion  by  the  power 
of  intellectual  arrogance.  If  religion  were  only  a coordinate  factor 
in  our  education  it  would  demand  all  that  any  other  factor  demands, 
for  its  rights  are  as  great,  and  an  education  that  would  crowd  it  out 
of  recognition  would  only  be  a garbled  and  false,  and  so  a danger- 
ous education.  Even  those  who  allow  it  no  greater  dignity  or  sig- 
nificance than  belongs  to  a product  of  feeling  and  imagination  clearly 
see  this.  But  if  religion  represents  the  realm  of  the  absolute,  and 
is  the  central  and  imperative  power  in  man,  the  case  is  other  and 
more.  Religion  does  not  come  into  man’s  consciousness  simply  as 
the  product  of  his  thought.  It  is  not  a product  of  the  intellectual 
activity  in  its  speculation  upon  the  origin  of  all  things,  as  rational- 
ism claims.  It  is  not  a theoretic,  but  a practical  power.  It  is  more 
than  knowledge  of  the  infinite.  It  is  knowledge  realized  as  obliga- 
tion * * * Religion,  therefore,  as  an  authority  from  the  realm  of 

the  absolute,  claims  the  whole  man. 

“ Religion,  then,  is  the  root  of  manhood,  as  well  as  its  crown, 
and  all  rational  and  systematic  development  must  proceed  from  this 
centre.  A something  there  must  be  in  man  which  is  to  him  what 
life  is  in  the  development  of  organism.  This  something  is  the  relig- 
ious factor  in  him.  Only  as  religion  finds  place  in  the  growth  and 
development  of  manhood  do  we  attain  symmetry  and  completeness.” 

These  defects  in  our  popular  system  will  be  remedied  in  part  by 
that  splendid  example  set  by  the  Catholic  Church  in  her  educational 
system.  Begun  in  poverty  — maintained  in  spite  ofopen  threats  and 
covert  sneers,  builded  upon  the  sure  foundation  rock  of  authority, 
teaching  always  duty  to  God,  first,  and  after  that  duty  to  country 
and  to  kind  — it  has  grown  with  the  nation’s  growth  and  prospered  * 
with  the  nation’s  years.  And  all  this  while  the  Catholic  citizen 
has  cheerfully  been  doing  double  duty.  Paying  his  quota  of  the 
public  taxes  for  schools,  he  has  out  of  his  poverty  built  up  and 
endowed  his  own  schools.  What  the}'  are  these  imperfect  figures 
from  the  Catholic  Directory  of  1889  will  demonstrate.  The  total 
Catholic  population  is  estimated  at  10,000,000.  The  number  of 
parochial  schools  reported  is  3,024;  academies,  546;  seminaries,  27: 
colleges,  97;  charitable  institutions,  519.  The  number  of  scholars 
reported  in  the  parochial  schools  was  585,965,  with  several  dioceses 
unreported.  By  adding  to  these  at  a fair  average  estimate,  the 
number  of  pupils  taught  in  our  academies,  colleges,  seminaries,  and 
charitable  asylums,  orphanages,  etc.,  I estimate  at  least  750,000 
as  the  daily  average  attendance  in  the  Catholic  schools. 

Now,  the  public  schools’  average  daily  attendance  for  the  same 
period  was  7,500,000,  out  of  a total  population  of  about  60,000,000. 
Deducting  the  Catholic  population  from  the  total  population  of  the 
country,  leaves  about  50,000,000.  The  state  educates  about  one- 
seventh  of  its  people,  exclusive  of  the  Catholic  body.  The  Catholic 
Church  educates  about  one-twelfth  of  its  membership,  exclusive  of  the 
state.  This  grand  showing  has  challenged  the  admiration  of  Prot- 
estant writers.  I quote  from  Intcrnati onal  Educational  Scries,  Vol. 
XI,  Appleton  & Co.,  1889,  this  tribute  from  the  author,  Mr.  Boone. 
After  noticing  the  denominational  schools  of  our  Protestant  brethren, 
he  says:  “ But  all  the  denominational  service  in  education  is  partial 
and  irregular  compared  with  the  comprehensive  grasp  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  Theirs  is  all-inclusive,  and  assumes  no  other  agency. 
Ignoring  the  public  school,  their  plan  is  coextensive  with  their 
membership.  With  one-fifth  of  all  the  theological  seminaries,  and 


58 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


one-third  of  all  their  students,  with  one-fourth  of  the  colleges,  nearly 
600  academies  and  2,600  parochial  (elementary)  schools,  instructing 
more  than  500,000  children,  the  church  is  seen  to  be  a force  which, 
educationally  considered,  is  equalled  by  no  other  single  agency  but 
the  government  itself. 

“The  Theological  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  Baltimore,  is, 
according  to  the  Catholic  Year  Book , the  oldest  organization  for  the- 
ological instruction  in  this  country,  dating  from  1791.  To  the 
Catholics,  also,  belong  several  industrial  reform  schools,  orphans’ 
homes,  and  normal  schools.”  With  this  splendid  testimony  of  a 
non-Catholic,  and  therefore  one  not  partial  to  Catholic  schools,  I 
may  well  close  this,  to  me  unsatisfactory,  paper.  It  has  hastily  been 
thrown  together  in  the  chance  intervals  of  a very  busy,  every-day 
life.  Its  style  is  crude,  but  its  sentiments  are  honest. 

With  one  glance  at  the  past  and  future,  I close. 

My  Catholic  brethren,  this  to  us  is  a glorious  day.  Glorious 
in  the  splendid  promise  it  gives  for  the  future — glorious  in  recalling 
the  story  of  the  past.  As  Catholics,  with  unsandalled  feet,  we  stand 
at  the  cradle  of  our  faith  in  these  United  States.  As  citizens,  we 
have  come  to  the  cradle  also  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in  the 
west.  With  grateful  and  humble  hearts  we  lay  upon  God’s  altars 
our  thanksgiving  for  his  manifold  blessings  to  church  and  people. 
With  grateful  and  humble  hearts  we  turn  to  our  country’s  altar  and 
thank  God  that  he  has  preserved  thereon  the  fires  of  freedom  which 
our  Carrolls  helped  to  light.  Oh,  Maryland — thou  state  of  a blessed 
name — thy  land  is  holy ! Thy  land  is  holy — for  here  the  ‘ ‘ Ark  ’ ’ 
bearing  the  charter  of  freedom  first  rested — here  the  “Dove”  of 
peace  among  the  nation’s  first  found  homes.  And  thou,  Baltimore, 
fair  city  of  this  ancient  see,  how  our  Catholic  pulses  start  at  the 
mention  of  thy  name!  Through  the  vista  of  100  years  rises  up 
the  figure  of  thy  first  bishop,  John  Carroll — priest,  patriot,  and 
patriarch.  Down  the  line  of  his  successors,  what  glorious  names 
adorn  thy  annals.  To  mention  some  of  them  is  to  touch  the  Cath- 
olic heart.  -—A  Kenrick,  a Spalding,  a Bayley — until  the  mantle  falls 
upon  that  man  who,  it  is  no  flatterj-  to  say,  stands  not  alone  a prince 
of  the  Church  Catholic,  but  a leader  of  American  thought,  James, 
Cardinal  Gibbons. 

But,  to  return  to  my  theme,  we  are  dealing  not  so  much  with 
the  past  as  with  the  living  present.  The  foundations  of  our  Catho- 
lic schools  have  been  laid  broad  and  deep.  They  are  not  all  we 
desire  them  to  be,  but  considering  the  difficulties  encountered,  they 
are  schools  of  which  we  may  well  be  proud. 

There  is,  however,  an  unknown  field  for  effective  educational 
work  which,  as  I stand  before  this  great  assembly  of  Catholic  lay- 
men, I dare  not  neglect  to  mention.  I refer  to  the  colored  people, — 
to  the  freedmen  of  the  south.  I know  those  people.  I know  their 
hunger  for  knowledge.  I know  how  docile  they  are  and  how 
patient — how  susceptible  to  good  influences.  I know  these  things, 
for  I am  a southern  man  born;  and,  God  forgive  me  for  it,  I have 
had  my  share  of  the  southern  man’s  foolish  prejudices  on  this  sub- 
ject,— but  I have  got  bravely  over  them.  And  I say  to  you,  my 
brethren  of  the  first  Catholic  American  congress,  that  we  owe  it  as 
an  act  of  reparation  to  those  children  of  a cruel  fate  to  do  all  we  can 
to  lift  them  out  of  that  darkness,  mental  or  moral,  into  which  they 
have  been  plunged  through,  no  fault  of  theirs.  Oh,  that  God  would 
inspire  some  great-hearted  man  or  woman  to  undertake  this  work, 
someone  who  has  been  blessed  with  this  world’s  abundance,  to  lead 
in  laying  the  foundation  for  the  Catholic  mission  schools  for  the 
colored  people  of  the  south.  When  that  glorious  leader  comes,  the 
field  will  be  found  ripening  for  the  harvest. 

Once  in  the  olden  time  a Catholic  queen  pledged  her  jewels  that 
the  adventurous  prows  of  the  “world-seeking  Genoese”  might  be 
turned  toward  the  west.  In  our  day  an  American  girl — uncrowned, 
but  by  that  royal  patent  of  grace  and  good  will  with  which  God  in- 
vested her  gentle  womanhood — endowed  with  munificent  hand  our 
Catholic  university  at  Washington.  And  when  for  all  time  that 
university  shall  point  heavenward  its  cross-crowned  spires,  this  deed 
which  she  has  done  will  be  spoken  in  memory  of  her. 

And  as  from  that  centre  of  Catholic  education  the  cross  of 
Christ  shall  be  lifted  beside  Liberty  enthroned  on  the  nation’s  capi- 
tol,  we,  as  Catholics  and  citizens  of  the  republic,  see  in  the  one  and 
in  the  other  the  perfect  promise  of  freedom  here  and  that  freedom 
wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free  in  our  Father’s  kingdom. 

The  church  shall  live  by  the  unfailing  promise  of  her  divine 
founder.  The  republic  lives  only  through  the  virtue  of  her  people, 
promoted,  preserved,  and  perpetuated  through  “ Religion,  morality, 
and  knowledge.” 

The  Chairman:  “ Gentlemen  of  the  Congress:  I am  sure  that 


this  body  will  excuse  me  for  one  moment  and  allow  me  to  present 
to  this  audience,  at  their  own  invitation,  His  Honor,  Ferdinand  C. 
Latrobe,  mayor  of  the  city  of  Baltimore.”  (Applause.) 

Mayor  Latrobe:  ‘ 'Mr.  President , Ladies  and  Gentlemen : I 
am  here  to-day  at  your  invitation  to  be  present  on  one  of  the  occa- 
sions of  the  deliberations  of  the  Catholic  congress  in  Baltimore.  I 
did  not  come  to  take  part  in  your  deliberations.  I did  not  come  to 
make  a speech  or  an  address  upon  this  occasion,  nor  could  it  be 
even  expected  that  I should  make  a speech,  because  if  so  I am 
confident  I should  have  been  given  some  little  time  for  preparation 
before  speaking  to  such  an  intelligent  audience  as  I see  before  me. 
But  I am  here  officially  as  the  chief  executive  officer  of  this  city  to 
bid  you  welcome  to  Baltimore.  (Applause.)  I do  not  know  what 
attractions  our  city  can  offer.  I do  not  know  what  species  of  free- 
dom our  city  can  give  you,  but  whatever  they  are,  I assure  you 
they  are  freely  extended,  and  certainly  in  the  chief  city  of  the  state 
of  Maryland,  a state  founded  on  the  eternal  doctrine  of  religious 
toleration  (applause),  every"  freedom  of  speech  and  thought  is 
offered  to  every  one  who  comes  to  the  city  of  Baltimore.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

“ I will  be  happy  to  see  you  all  on  Thursday  afternoon,  when 
we  propose  to  extend  a reception  at  the  city  hall  to  the  distinguished 
prelates  and  lay  members  of  this  great  Catholic  Church,  who  have 
honored  Baltimore  with  its  selection  as  the  place  for  the  delibera- 
tions of  its  congress.  (Applause.) 

“ I thank  you  for  your  kind  invitation  to  me  to  be  present,  and 
if  you  will  permit  me  I will  now  become  a listener  instead  of  a 
talker  upon  this  occasion.”  (Applause.) 

The  thanks  of  the  congress  were  tendered  Judge  Kelly  for  his 
address. 

SOCIETIES. 

SEVENTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  HENRY  J.  SPAUNHORST,  OP  ST. 

LOUIS,  MO. 

Mr.  President , Most  Reverend  Prelates , Reverend  Clergy , ana 
Gentlemen  of  the  Congress:  I very  reluctantly  accepted  the  task  to 
prepare  and  read  on  this  occasion,  before  such  a large  and  intelli- 
gent audience,  as  I knew  this  would  be,  a paper  on  societies  and 
organizations,  fully  cognizant  of  my  inability  to  do  justice  to  that 
subject,  but  the  committee  said  I must,  hence  there  was  no  escape. 

When  I undertake  to  speak  of  societies,  it  is  necessary  as  a 
preliminary,  to  say  that  I do  not  mean  such  organizations  which 
are  recognized  by  the  church  as  strictly  religious  societies,  nor  such 
as  confraternities  or  societies  for  special  devotions,  or  of  piety,  nor 
sodalities  and  others  of  that  class,  which  are  strictly  under  the 
supervision  of  clerical  authorities.  I speak  of  societies  such  as 
are  charitable  in  their  character,  composed  of  Catholic  men,  the 
management  of  w'hich  is  generally  left  in  the  hands  of  the  members 
themselves,  but  their  rules  being  sanctioned  by  the  pastors  of  the 
parishes  in  which  they  were  organized.  Of  these  societies  there 
are  a large  number.  Some  of  them  confine  themselves  to  the  labor 
of  visiting  indigent  and  poor  families,  in  giving  relief  in  kind  to 
the  needy,  or  in  kind  words  give  advice,  encourage  and  assist  them 
to  their  self-sustenance  and  to  the  practice  of  Christian  life.  The 
means  to  accomplish  this  are  gathered  by  voluntary  contributions 
in  such  manner  that  neither  member  knows  what  his  neighbor  con- 
tributes. Foremost  in  this  laudable  work  is  the  St.  Vincent  de 
Paul  society,  also  known  as  St.  Vincent  Brotherhood,  with  its  con- 
ferences scattered  all  over  the  United  States,  with  its  particular, 
upper,  and  general  councils  well  established. 

Next  to  this  organization  I would  mention  the  different  socie- 
ties having  for  their  special  objects  to  provide  homes  for  the 
orphans  and  parentless,  in  which  to  shelter  and  educate  the 
orphans.  Next,  such  organizations  which  take  charge  of  the  way- 
ward and  neglected,  or  abandoned  children,  conducting  refuges  and 
reformatories.  Then  follow  organizations  providing  for  the  old, 
infirm,  and  sick,  conducting  hospitals  and  homes  for  that  class. 
All  these  are  societies,  organizations,  and  institutions  which  have 
been  established  in  every  part  of  the  country  where  there  are  Cath- 
olics, each  and  every  one  working  with  such  means  as  they  can 
command,  in  the  direction  of  the  objects  to  be  obtained  by  them. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


59 


All  such  societies  do  great  good  to  mankind,  and  are  laudable, 
but  their  good  works  are  sometimes  unknown  to  the  public.  The 
members  of  these  societies  are  particularly  mindful  of  the  words  of 
our  Redeemer,  when  he  said:  “The  poor  and  needy  you  have 
always  with  you,”  the  teachings  of  our  church  being  the  incentive 
for  membership.  It  is  to  do  good,  aid  and  comfort  thy  neighbor,  to 
clothe  and  feed  the  needy  for  God’s  sake,  is  their  aim,  for  which  is 
promised  reward  in  this  life,  and  stores  of  treasures  for  the  life 
hereafter. 

There  are  other  classes  of  societies  which  must  not  be  under- 
estimated, because  they  too,  are  engaged  in  objects  so  laudable  and 
necessary,  filling  a want  in  the  parishes,  to  which  I deem  it  proper 
on  this  occasion  to  make  special  reference;  I mean  the  so-called 
school  and  parochial  societies,  their  object  being  to  enable  the 
parish  in  which  they  exist,  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
the  members,  to  support  their  schools,  and  to  take  up  all  the  chil- 
dren for  schooling,  giving  them  not  only  free  tuition  and  schooling, 
but  also,  in  many  cases,  furnish  books  and  clothing  and  other  neces- 
saries which  hide  their  indigency,  and  thus  enable  them  to  appear 
as  others,  and  reap  the  same  benefits.  I have  no  statistics  of  the 
works  of  these  societies  or  institutions;  there  has  not,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, been  any  plan  adopted  by  which  reports  or  statistics  could  be 
gathered  to  show  up  the  immense  amount  of  good  such  societies 
are  doing.  I can  only  say  that  where  such  societies  do  exist,  the 
amount  of  good  done  is  manifold,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  such 
societies  do  not  exist  in  every  parish. 

You  will  permit  me  to  digress  from  my  subject  for  a moment, 
to  acknowledge  and  pay  tribute  due  the  many  religious  orders, 
whose  members  voluntarily  choose  a life  of  self-denial,  sacrifice,  and 
seclusion,  labor  and  piety,  who  have  left  all  worldy  affection  and 
ambition,  for  the  holy  purpose  of  doing  works'  of  charity  for  man- 
kind ; I know  that  you  will  appreciate  their  great  sacrifices  to  serve 
God,  to  do  good  works  for  all  mankind.  Without  them,  who  would 
be  the  teachers  of  our  youths,  the  nurses,  the  consolers  and  comfort- 
ers of  the  sick,  old,  and  needy?  May  these  sacrificing  angels  always 
find  a warm,  appreciative  sympathy  among  us. 

The  next  class  of  societies  are  the  benevolent  societies,  their 
object  being,  through  stated  contributions  by  the  members,  either 
monthly,  quarterly,  or  otherwise  to  accumulate  funds,  by  means  of 
which,  to  assist  their  members,  when  sick  or  disabled,  to  follow  their 
daily  avocations,  in  some  instances,  in  the  event  of  death  of  either  the 
member  or  the  wife  of  a member,  contribute  stated  sums,  provide 
for  the  widow  or  orphans,  and  defray  the  expense  of  a Christian 
burial.  These  societies  are  of  a late  date  in  this  country.  Perhaps 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  such  societies  were  scarcely  known  fifty 
years  ago  among  Catholics.  Benevolent  societies  organized  as  we 
now  know  them,  existing  by  and  with  the  consent  and  recommenda- 
tion of  the  reverend  clergy,  were  but  little  known  as  late  as  1840. 
This  class  of  societies  became  very  popular,  and  rapidly  increased  in 
numbers  and  members,  but  of  late  years  their  growth  is  not  as  rapid 
as  it  used  to  be,  perhaps  owing  to  other  societies  since  organized, 
which  conduct  a kind  of  a mutual  life  insurance  business  under  vari- 
ous modes  and  plans,  making  so-called  life  insurance  their  main 
object  and  business,  the  giving  aid  and  assistance  to  sick  and  dis- 
abled members  being  a secondary  consideration.  These  organiza- 
tions, too,  require  their  members  to  be  practical  Catholics.  These 
organizations  are  recommended  by  many  of  the  church  ordinaries, 
therefore  recognized  as  Catholic  organizations  ; they  have  within  a 
few  3rears  multiplied  rapidly  in  numbers  and  membership,  and  are  by 
many  preferred  over  the  old  line  benevolent  societies,  aid  and  assi- 
stance in  case  of  sickness  being  secondary,  and  less  trouble,  with 
larger  death  benefits.  These  societies  also  do  much  good  in  banding 
together  the  younger  element. 

The  old  line  benevolent  societies  require  of  members  to  be  prac- 
tical Catholics,  and  to  remain  such  under  penalties  and  even  expul- 
sion. There  are  two  unions  of  this  class  of  organizations  known  to 
me,  the  German  Roman  Catholic  Central- Verein,  or  Central  Society, 
and  the  Irish  Catholic  Benevolent  Union.  The  two  are  hand  in  hand 
since  1878.  There  may  be  others,  undoubtedly  are,  with  which  I 
am  not  acquainted.  I will  submit  a short  synopsis  of  the  last 
annual  report  of  one  of  these  organizations,  with  which  I am 
somewhat  familiar,  namely,  the  German  Roman  Catholic  Central- 
Verein,  to  which  organization  local  Catholic  benevolent  societies 
from  the  entire  United  States,  from  Maine  to  California,  from  Minne- 
sota to  Texas,  are  aggregated,  numbering  446  societies.  This  organi- 
zation has  existed  thirty-five  years,  and  has  prospered.  The  report  of 
the  last  year  of  the  aggregated  societies  shows,  that  during  the  last 
year,  ending  August  r,  $124,343.35  were  paid  to  members  during 
their  sickness  and  disability  to  follow  their  daily  callings;  $140,- 


108.95  were  paid  for  death  benefits  of  members — a total  expenditure 
of  $264, 452. 30,  leaving  in  the  treasuries  of  the  different  local  socie- 
ties the  handsome  sum  of  $740,269.05. 

To  become  a member  of  a local  society , the  applicant  must  be  a 
practical  Catholic,  and  so  remain;  his  name  is  submitted  to  the  pas- 
tor of  the  parish  from  whence  he  comes,  whose  recommendation  is 
required  before  the  applicant  is  accepted  as  a member.  He  obligates 
himself  to  send  his  children  to  Catholic  schools;  he  must  contribute 
for  the  support  of  these  schools,  and  in  all  particulars  conform  to  the 
rules  of  his  parish.  Membership  entitles  to  assistance  and  to  ma- 
terial aid,  when  sick  or  otherwise  disabled  to  follow  his  usual  avo- 
cation; in  case  of  death,  a Christian  burial  and  a benefit  to  the 
widow  or  the  children  of  deceased  members;  if  there  be  no  widow, 
to  provide  for,  that  the  children  receive  a Christian  education,  and 
receive  the  holy  sacraments  of  the  church— in.  other  words,  that  they 
may  grow  up  to  be  practical  Catholics  in  after  life.  This  organiza- 
tion too,  has  been  forced  by  circumstances  to  adopt  a death  benefit, 
but  its  plan  differs  from  other  organizations  in  management  and  re- 
quirements; first,  the  amount  of  death  benefit  is  limited  to  $1,000, 
that  being  the  largest  amount  which  can  be  obtained  or  secured; 
second,  no  one  can  become  a member  unless  he  be  and  remain  a 
member  of  some  local  society  which  is  aggregated  to  the  Central- 
Verein.  Thus  the  local  societies  themselves  look  to  it  that  the  strict 
adherence  and  compliance  with  the  rules  and  the  practice  to  religious 
duties  are  kept  up.  Thus  thirdly,  these  local  socities  are  a safeguard 
against  the  intermingling  of  self-styled  Catholics,  who  are  Catholics 
only  by  name,  invariably  an  element  detrimental  to  Catholic  so- 
cieties, and  often  a disturbing  element  among  the  Catholic  laity. 
Fourthly,  having  no  agents  or  solicitors,  the  expense  for  manage- 
ment is  comparatively  small.  Fifthly,  it  has  a reserve  fund  for 
emergencies.  The  provision  of  limiting  the  amount  of  death  benefit 
has  proved  a wholesome  one;  people  are  apt  to  join  new  societies, 
and  urged  by  their  friends  thereto.  Men  joining  societies  often  do 
so  without  giving  due  consideration  to  the  fact  that  generally  the 
required  contributions  are  small  at  the  beginning,  that  only  for  lim- 
ited number  of  years  death  benefit  can  be  cheaply  furnished;  invaria- 
bly all  want  to  secure  the  highest  amount  obtainable,  regardless  of 
their  financial  ability  or  general  condition  to  continue,  but  little  re- 
gard is  paid  to  the  fact  that  the  required  contributions  must  increase 
with  age. 

I deem  it  a plain  duty,  devolving  upon  every  person,  especially 
a Catholic,  who  takes  part  in  organizing  societies  of  this  character, 
to  acquaint  himself  fully  with  the  facts  and  requirements  for  stabil- 
ity. They  should  also  provide  for  possibilities  in  organizing  such 
societies  destined  to  continue  for  a long  period,  a generation  or 
perpetually,  to  be  sure  as  far  as  human  foresight  and  prudence  can 
be,  that  the  promises  made  do  not  prove  fallacious  in  course  of  time. 
Therefore,  the  amount  of  benefit  should  be  limited.  The  limit  of 
the  amount  ol  benefit  has  proven  beneficial  in  several  cases  which 
have  come  under  my  own  personal  observation,  and  I have  after 
mature  deliberation,  come  to  the  conclusion  that  societies  based  upon 
mutual  contribution  plan,  by  way  of  assessments,  ought  to  provide 
only  limited  death  benefits  in  a manner  so  that  the  contributions  will 
not  become  burdensome  on  members.  All  this  class  of  societies 
ought  to  have  a reserve  and  also  create  a fund  to  aid  its  sick  mem- 
bers, the  fact  being  in  almost  diery  case  that  when  the  head  of  a 
family  is  thrown  upon  a sick  bed,  unable  to  earn  anything,  that  then 
the  time  of  need  is  greatest;  when,  then,  a helping  hand  is  nearing, 
not  in  mere  cold  charity,  but  the  hand  of  his  brother,  which  helps 
and  comforts  him,  gives'encouragement,  invigorates  the  patient  and 
often  does  as  much  to  restore  his  health,  as  medicine  can  do. 

Life  insurance  is  a business,  and  must  be  conducted  upon  sound 
business  principles  and  plans,  which  will  stand  the  test  for  genera- 
tions. It  is  hardly  a matter  for  benevolent  societies  to  undertake  on 
a larger  scale.  Some  objections  are  urged  against  benevolent  and 
death-benefit  societies,  because  these  confine  their  aid,  assistance,  and 
benefits  exclusively  to  their  members  and  conditional,  that  if  a 
member  fails  to  pay  his  allotted  contributions  for  a specific  time, he 
is  fined  or  perhaps  expelled.  Others  refuse  to  join  because  amply 
blessed  with  worldly  goods,  considering  themselves  above  want,  they 
can  help  themselves,  in  case  of  sickness  or  disability,  they  want  no  aid 
and  no  death  benefit.  Of  course  objections  can  be  easily  made  and 
excuses  found.  Let  me  suggest  a remedy  right  here,  to  meet  the 
first  objection  so  frequently  heard.  Let  evety  Catholic  join  some 
benevolent  society;  the  contributions  of  honorary  members  and  those 
who  do  not  desire  to  draw  benefits  be  made  a special  fund,  for  the 
purpose  to  keep  up  the  memberships  of  others  unable  to  pay  their 
dues;  that  at  once  solves  the  problem,  and  would  establish  benevo- 
lent societies  as  lasting  institutions  among  Catholics.  Besides  the 


6o 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


benevolent  features,  is  it  not  desirable  that  Catholics  of  all  classes 
mingle  more  frequently,  than  they  now  do  ? thus  familiarize  them- 
selves with  the  general  wants  and  needs,  such  as  innocent  amuse- 
ments and  recreation,  manual  exercises  and  entertainments,  so 
much  needed  for  our  young  people. 

We  live  in  an  age  of  organizations.  We  find  organizations  and 
corporations  for  business,  for  manufacturing  and  every  imaginable 
industry  in  a business  sense,  the  object  in  numerous  cases  being,  to 
concentrate  capital  for  large  undertakings,  but  sometimes  made  use 
of  as  a means  to  avoid  personal  responsibility.  But  this  is  a question 
for  political  economists;  I leave  the  subject  in  their  hands.  In  our 
time,  unless  a man  is  a member  of  some  kind  of  a society  or  organ- 
ization, he  is  virtually  isolated  from  his  fellow-meu  and  dependent 
upon  himself,  solitary  and  alone.  Such  isolations  are  un-Catholic;  the 
church  is  Catholic  and>  established  for  all  classes,  and  so  ought  its 
members  be.  Therefore  the  existence  of  societies  has  become  a 
necessity. 

A Catholic,  however,  cannot  be  indifferent  as  to  of  what  society 
he  becomes  a member.  In  the  main  a Catholic  should  not  attach 
himself  to  any  society  in  which  the  duties  and  requirements  of 
members  is  not  clearly  defined,  he  must  join  no  organization  or 
society  which  requires  of  him  blind  obedience,  being  bound  by  oath, 
or  word  of  honor  so  to  do.  The  organization  which  I have  men- 
tioned has  a provision  that  no  member  is  permitted  to  join  any 
society  not  approved  by  ecclesiastical  authorities.  I deem  it  proper, 
that,  the  head  of  a family,  above  all  others,  become  a member  ol 
some  benevolent  and  a death-benefit  paying-society,  thus  provide  for 
those  dependent  upon  him,  that  in  the  event  he  is  called  away,  in 
early  life  or  later,  some  assistance  is  secured  for  those  he  leaves 
behind  him  that  they  be  provided  for  in  a reasonable  manner,  which 
protects  them  from  becoming  the  recipients  of  the  cold  charities  of 
the  world.  I therefore  urge  upon  this  congress  to  take  some  steps 
by  which  a universal  system  for  benevolent  societies  be  encouraged, 
and  if  possible  established.  Would  it  not  be  feasible  for  this  con- 
gress to  devise  some  universal  form  and  plan,  upon  which  Catholic 
benevolent  societies  can  be  organized  with  uniformity,  so  that 
material  aid  for  sick  and  disabled  be  one  of  the  requisites,  and  that 
all  Catholic  men  be  urged  to  become  members  throughout  the  land? 

This  is  the  first  congress  convened  by  the  Catholics  in  the 
United  States,  and  aside  from  the  three  annual  Katholiken  Tags, 
held  by  the  Catholics  of  German  parentage  or  birth,  which  were  all 
successful  and  did  much  good  by  way  of  personal  acquaintances  and 
interchange  of  views,  as  also  giving  tone  and  strength  to  Catholic 
objects  and  principles,  announcement  of  truths.  No  assembly  of 
this  kind  has  ever  been  heretofore  held  or  attempted  in  this  country, 
and  this  first  one  too,  without  any  regular  organization  beforehand. 
Whether  other  congresses  will  follow  is  a question  to  be  decided  by 
the  bod}'  of  Catholics  here  assembled.  It  is  well  for  us  to  look 
around,  to  consult,  meditate,  and  deliberate  on  their  necessity,  and 
the  matters  pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  our  people  who  by  their 
unity  in  faith,  learning,  intelligence,  and  industry  have  become  so 
important  an  element  of  the  American  citizen.  What  a grand  spec- 
tacle would  it  be,  if  here  to-day  it  were  possible  to  present  a synop- 
sis of  reports  of  all  the  good  works  done  throughout  this  country  by 
Catholic  societies  of  men  and  women,  under  the  auspices  of  their 
bishops  and  clergy,  and  of  the  works  in  various  schools,  institutions, 
as  well  as  societies,  and  of  their  prosperity.  Such  reports  and  the 
proceedings  of  a congress,  published  and  distributed,  would  not  only 
prove  interesting,  but  be  beneficial  and  encouraging  in  our  onward 
march  in  this  country  of  mixed  nationality,  but  all  of  one  faith. 

I would  not  recommend  that  the  representatives  of  a congress 
be  composed  of  delegates  from  societies.  I even  doubt  the  propriety 
of  societies  holding  their  annual  meetings,  conventions,  or  assemblies 
at  the  same  time  and  place  when  and  where  the  Catholic  congress 
meets;  such  would  take  up  time  and  might,  in  somewhat  lessen  the 
interest  otherwise  taken  in  the  proceedings  of  congresses. 

Organization  is  a necessary  preliminary  to  all  success.  Without 
organization  there  is  no  order,  without  order  no  unanimity  in  action. 
Therefore  I would  recommend  organization  of  Catholic  men  in  dio- 
cesan and  parish  organizations,  as  guards  of  the  great  boon  of 
“ Civil  and  Religious  Liberty,”  guaranteed  by  the  constitution  of 
our  country,  that  if  any  man  dare  to  lay  hands  on  that  esteemed,  I 
may  say  sacred,  principle,  therein  contained,  he  shall  be  made  to 
understand  that  he  is  treading  on  the  dearest  rights  of  every  Catho- 
lic, as  well  as  American  citizen.  Such  organizations  of  limited 
numbers  of  representative  men  to  be  chosen  in  a manner  deemed 
most  feasible.  I trust  that  this  congress  will  take  action  on  this  sug- 
gestion. Such  organizations  could  hold  annual  state  or  diocesan  con- 
ventions, submit  matters  for  Catholic  congresses  to  act  upon.  Thus 


proper  subjects  for  discussion  and  deliberation  could  be  brought  up 
as  need  action;  thus  the  congresses  would  never  be  subject  to  undue 
influence  of  societies.  Such  organizations,  if  properly  organized, 
can  do  much  good.  Laymen  must  take  a live  interest  in  matters 
concerning  public  welfare;  they  must  be  active. 

It  will  not  do  to  let  Catholicism  be  looked  upon  as  simply  tol- 
erated in  this  country,  because  the  head  of  our  creed,  not  living 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  it  as  some  do  charge,  which  charge  in 
point  of  fact,  is  simply  absurd,  but  we  must  endeavor  to  prove  the 
falsity  thereof  by  our  acts.  We  ought  to  have  in  congress  and 
state  legislatures  our  legitimate  number  of  representative  men;  the 
number  we  have  is  very  small,  compared  to  the  proportional  num- 
ber we  are  entitled  to.  This  should  be  otherwise.  A true  Catholic 
is  a true  and  trusty  citizen  and  patriot,  he  loves  his  country  next  to 
God;  above  all,  he  is  devoted  to  his  country  and  not  a blind  partisan. 
It  is  false  to  say,  that  because  he  is  a Catholic,  therefore  he  supports 
this  or  that  political  party.  I hold  it  as  a true  maxim  that  the  strength 
of  Catholics  in  the  United  States  rests  with  them  in  the  maintenance 
of  their  independence  of  political  parties. 

Organizations,  as  I have  indicated,  I deem  feasible,  and  if  re- 
sorted to  will  prove  beneficial.  Without  organization  we  have  no 
means  to  make  our  views  known.  When  threatened  with  obnoxious 
or  unjust  legislation,  we  ought  then  to  be  ready  to  make  our  views 
on  the  pending  questions  and  subjects  known.  My  experience  has 
been  that  whenever  the  truth  is  put  forward  by  an  intelligent  people 
in  an  intelligent  and  truthful  way,  the  American  people  will  never 
deny  us  a hearing,  but  will  maintain  the  rights  of  Catholics  as  un- 
trammelled, as  the  rights  of  any  other  faith  or  creed. 

I thank  the  congress  for  its  kind  attention. 

MEMORIAL  OF  THE  NATIONAL  UNION  OF  CATHOLIC 
YOUNG  MEN’S  SOCIETIES. 

READ  BY  MR.  O’SULLIVAN,  OE  NEW  YORK. 

Glancing  back  to  the  threshold  of  the  century  that  is  now 
closing,  we  behold  the  young  republic  of  America,  emerging  from 
its  baptism  of  fire,  vigorous,  hopeful,  and  free.  Clothed  in  the 
radiant  glow  of  that  freedom,  the  first  representative  of  our  Catholic 
hierarchy  appears,  adorned  with  the  laurels  of  American  patriotism, 
and  bearing  from  the  vicar  of  Christ  the  commission  to  proclaim 
that  truth  which  alone  can  make  us  free.  Thus  associated,  thus 
equipped,  the  church  and  the  republic  start  on  their  journey  down 
the  ages.  That  illustrious  central  figure  of  the  century,  whose 
memory  Catholics  fondly  cherish,  the  Most  Reverend  Archbishop 
Carroll,  wise  in  his  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  society,  apostolic  in 
his  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith,  saw,  in  the  young  men 
about  him,  the  hope  of  the  church  and  the  strength  of  the  state. 

Recognizing  the  necessity  of  preparing  young  men  for  the 
grand  inheritance  of  Catholic  faith  and  American  citizenship,  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  Georgetown  College,  and  thus  made  its  work 
coeval  with  the  American  hierarchy.  Since  then,  the  increase  of 
Catholic  colleges  and  seminaries  has  been  coextensive  with  the 
miraculous  growth  of  Catholicism.  Equal  in  number  to  the  years 
that  have  flown  since  the  founding  of  Georgetown,  they  stand  not 
only  an  eloquent  testimonial  to  Catholic  enlightenment,  but  a 
splendid  tribute  to  Catholic  faith  and  generosity;  and  now  the  edu- 
cational achievements  of  the  century  are  about  to  be  crowned  by  the 
great  Catholic  University  of  Washington. 

While  bestowing  a just  meed  of  praise  on  what  has  been  accom- 
plished in  the  domain  of  superior  education,  it  behooves  us  to  turn 
our  attention  to  the  great  body  of  Catholic  young  men,  and  to  ask 
ourselves:  “What  has  been  done  for  them?”  It  is  not  necessary 
here  to  dwell  on  the  relation  between  this  question  and  the  per- 
petuity of  our  social  institutions  and  the  welfare  of  religion. 

In  a country  and  in  an  age  like  ours,  particularly  when  judged 
in  the  light  of  contemporaneous  events  in  other  lands,  it  is  clear  that 
a high  order  of  enlightenment  and  Christian  instruction  on  matters 
relating  to  social  and  political  questions  is  indispensable  to  the  rank 
and  file  of  our  young  men. 

Through  an  organization  directed  by  the  church,  and  reaching 
out  to  all  classes  of  young  men,  we  should  seek  to  enlist  their  sym- 
pathies and  cooperation,  especially  in  all  those  matters  bearing  on 
their  own  self-improvement.  The  materials  for  such  an  organiza- 
tion are  to  be  found  in  the  Catholic  Young  Men’s  National  Union 
of  America.  Organized  over  fifteen  years  ago,  and  having  for  its 
object  the  furtherance  of  practical  Catholic  unity  and  the  moral  and 
intellectual  advancement  of  young  men,  its  results  were  such  as  to 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


win  approval  of  the  bishops  of  the  United  States  at  the  plenary 
council  of  1884.  No  stronger  approbation  could  be  given  than  is 
conveyed  in  these  words  from  their  pastoral  letter,  ‘ ‘ In  order  to 
acknowledge  the  great  amount  of  good  that  the  Catholic  Young 
Men’s  National  Union  has  already  accomplished,  to  promote  the 
growth  of  the  union,  and  to  stimulate  its  members  to  greater  efforts 
in  the  future,  we  cordially  bless  their  aims  and  endeavors  and  recom- 
mend the  union  to  all  our  Catholic  young  men.”  Approbation  so 
emphatic,  from  that  august  council,  had  a stimulating  effect  upon 
the  union. 

Together  with  the  blessings  of  the  bishops  upon  the  union, 
priests  have  given  to  it  the  assistance  of  their  best  efforts;  some  of 
them,  perhaps,  preoccupied  by  the  labors  of  the  sanctuary,  have 
been  unable  to  lend  their  valuable  assistance  to  its  undertakings, 
but  there  are,  in  America,  priests  who,  sympathizing  with  the  aspi- 
rations, and  sharing  the  ambitions  of  the  young  men,  have  devoted 
their  lives  to  the  success  of  the  organization.  We  desire  to  see  its 
ramifications  penetrating  into  every  diocese  and  every  parish  of  the 
land.  And  the  chief  obstacle  to  this  extension  lies  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  absolutely  a society  of  young  men,  and  that  those  of  maturer 
years  fail  to  tender  them  their  valuable  sympathy  and  support. 
There  are  a few  noble  exceptions,  where  Catholics  of  means  and 
experience,  by  their  generous  cooperation  with  branches  of  the 
union,  have  done  much  to  strengthen  the  organization  in  localities; 
but,  as  a rule,  the  members  of  the  union  growing  into  manhood  and 
assuming  the  responsibilities  of  that  station,  leave  the  younger  men 
to  struggle  alone  for  the  maintenance  of  the  organization,  till  the 
wonder  is,  not  that  they  have  achieved  so  little,  but  that  they  have 
accomplished  so  much;  as  a society  of  young  men,  they  have  earned 
the  plaudits  of  Catholic  America;  submissive  to  the  directions fcof 
their  ecclesiastical  superiors,  through  their  regulations  seeking  the 
counsels  of  their  older  brethren  in  the  faith,  young,  self-sacrificing 
and  valiant,  wanting  in  means,  but  not  in  courage,  they  struggle 
and  wait.  They  behold  streams  of  wealth  flowing  into  the  young 
men’s  societies  of  other  denominations  from  wealthy  patrons,  but 
patient  and  faithful  still,  the  Catholic  young  men  labor  on,  hoping 
for  the  day  when  they  will  receive  the  same,  if  not  greater,  cooper- 
ation and  recognition  from  their  more  mature  and  wealthy  brethren. 

And  to  this  great  congress,  which  represents  the  brains,  the 
wealth,  the  devotion,  the  bone  and  sinew,  the  progressive  heart  of 
Catholic  America,  they  most  respectfully  submit  the  following 
requests  : 

First.  They  ask  from  you  indorsement,  sympathy,  encour- 
agement for  every  movement  that  tends  to  educate,  protect,  unite, 
and  ground  more  thoroughly  in  their  faith,  our  Catholic  young  men. 

Second.  They  ask  your  active  interest  in  your  several  locali- 
ties for  the  establishment  of  young  men’s  societies  and  for  their 
banding  together  in  diocesan  and  national  unions. 

Third.  They  ask  especially  the  members  of  this  congress  who 
represent  the  Catholic  press  to  lend  their  far-reaching  influence 
towards  clearly  establishing  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land  these  two  facts,  viz.,  that  the  success  of  the  young  men’s  socie- 
ties means  the  greatest  possible  prosperity  for  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  future;  and  that  this  success  can  never  be  obtained  in  its 
fullest  measure,  until  the  movement  has  the  active  cooperation  of 
those  who  possess  mature  minds,  generous  hearts;  and  plentiful  store. 

Let  these  things  be  done,  and  great  as  the  American  Catholic 
Church  is  to-day,  -that  greatness  will  be  only  as  the  light  of  morn  to 
the  splendor  of  the  sun,  when  compared  with  the  grandeur  in  our 
years  to  come. 

Mr.  Edward  McGannon,  of  Columbus,  O. : ‘T  have  a 
paper  here  which  I wish  to  read.” 

YOUNG  MEN’S  CATHOLIC  SOCIETIES. 

ADDRESS  BY  MR.  E.  MC  GANNON,  OF  COLUMBUS,  O. 

A 

There  is  no  subject  that  can  engage  the  attention  of  the  Catholic 
people  of  this  country,  of  as  much,  or  more  importance  than  the 
formation  and  success  of  societies  for  the  spiritual,  mental,  and 
social  improvement,  particularly  of  the  young  men.  That  immense 
efforts  have  been,  and  are  being  made  in  this  direction,  we  are  well 
aware;  but  owing  to  special  causes,  many  of  the  societies  at  present 
established  do  not  have  the  influence  for  good  that  their  founders 
desire  and  labor  earnestly  for.  A consideration  by  this  congress,  of 
the  kind  of  societies  needed,  and  the  necessary  means  to  make  them 
successful,  will,  I hope,  be  of  great  advantage  and  benefit  in  the 
future. 

The  society  or  institution  needed  is  one  that  will  include  all 


61 

classes  of  young  men  in  its  benefits  and  assist  them  to  elevate  them- 
selves by  honest  effort  in  the  difierent  professions  and  stations  of  life 
they  occupy.  In  every  city  of  the  Union,  we  have  to  deal  with 
different  classes  of  young  men,  many  of  whom  have  the  most  intense 
desire  for  culture  and  knowledge.  These  classes  are  represented  by 
the  young  man  who  has  received  a liberal, possibly  a collegiate,  educa- 
tion, by  the  young  man  whose  education  and  intellectual  tastes  are  on 
a lower  plane,  and  by  the  young  man  who  has  been  compelled  to 
begin  the  battle  for  life’s  necessaries  before  he  had  received  more 
than  the  scantiest  foundation  of  intellectual  acquirements.  These 
three  classes  are  supplemented  by  yet  another,  viz.,  the  young  men  of 
each,  who  without  any  definite  idea  of  advancement,  spend  their  even- 
ings in  the  pursuit  of  so-called  pleasure  and  enjoyment. 

To  meet  the  wants  of  all  these  classes  is  absolutely  necessary, 
if  we  hope  to  effect  any  lasting  or  real  good.  The  society  needed 
should  possess  the  means  to  satisfy  each  in  their  particular  bent  and 
incite  them  to  labor  for  their  advancement.  It  should  possess  all  the 
qualifications  of  a young  business  man’s  university,  where  every 
mind  would  find  development  and  the  assistance  to  progress  it  may 
require.  For  the  educated  young  man  it  should  have  the  library 
and  reading  room,  debating  class  and  reading  circle.  For  the  young 
man  of  medium  education,  it  should  have  the  educational  classes 
suited  to  his  wants,  and  for  the  young  man  who  may  be  said  to  have 
left  off  just  where  his  real  secular  education  would  have  begun,  it 
should  have  every  requisite  to  furnish  him  the  knowledge  which  his 
hard  lot  in  life  denied,  and,  for  the  young  man  who  seeks  after 
pleasure  and  enjoyment,  it  should  have  the  means  to  furnish  them, 
free  from  vice  and  evil  surroundings. 

Have  we  many  such  societies  ? And  if  not,  whose  fault  is  it  ? 
How  is  it  that  the  young  men’s  societies  do  not  prosper  as  they 
ought  to  do  ? Is  it  the  young  men’s  fault  ? Most  certainly  not.  It 
is  our  fault.  We,  the  fathers  of  the  young  men,  are  to  blame, 
because  we  fail  to  give  them  the  assistance  in  the  formation  and 
management  of  their  societies  that  we  ought  to  give,  and  that  they 
have  the  right  to  expect.  We  never  tire  of  telling  them  ‘‘They 
ought  to  do  something  for  their  improvement,”  but  do  we  help 
them?  Unfortunately  we  do  not.  If  under  the  advice  of  friends, 
some  of  our  young  people  attempt  to  give  an  entertainment,  it  is 
very  probable  they  will  have  to  depend  upon  our  separated  brethren 
for  their  largest  support,  and  the  very  people  whom  it  was  intended 
to  please  and  benefit,  and  who  ought  to  have  honored  the  occasion 
with  their  presence,  ay!  even  if  they  had  to  go  upon  their  knees, 
are  conspicuous  only  by  their  absence.  Can  we  expect  progress 
from  our  children,  with  such  indifference  on  our  part?  If  any  of 
us  had  a son  who  intended  to  adopt  a farmer’s  life,  or  who  was 
ordered  to  do  so  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  would  we  say  to  him, 
‘'Son,  go,  be  a farmer,”  and  consider  we  had  done  all  our  duty  ? 
I think  not.  Would  we  not  do  our  utmost  to  assist  him  to  procure  a 
good  farm,  and  when  one  was  found  to  satisfy  our  requirements  as  to 
what  would  constitute  a good  paying  investment,  would  we  not 
help  him  to  buy  the  implements,  and  other  things  needed  to  make 
the  attempt  successful  ? Our  means  and  credit  would,  and  should 
be  used  in  his  behalf,  and  until  we  saw  he  was  able  to  manage  it 
successfully  himself,  our  time,  experience,  and  ability  would  be  ever 
at  his  service.  But  in  the  management  of  this  other  farm,  where 
the  soul  and  miiid  require  the  health-giving  properties  of  useful 
knowledge,  we  leave  them  to  their  own  devices,  unaided  by  means, 
money,  or  advice.  This  is  unbusiness  like,  and  most  unreasonable. 

It  has  been  justly  stated  that  our  young  men  have  little  unity 
or  cohesiveness.  How  could  they  have  them  ? Of  different  voca- 
tions of  life  and  such  varied  mental  attainments,  the  only  thing 
they  possess  in  common  is  their  faith;  and  it  is  our  duty  to  furnish 
the  means  to  effect  this  unity,  without  which  no  real  progress  can 
ever  be  attained. 

For  this  purpose,  we  must  provide  them  with  a building 
especially  adapted  to  their  wants,  containing  a good  library  and 
reading  room,  gymnasium  and  billiard  room,  a lecture  hall,  comfort- 
able parlors  and  class  rooms,  where  education  in  the  necessary 
branches,  and,  if  the  young  men  desire,  in  the  higher  branches  could 
be  obtained  at  a nominal  cost.  You  will  ask,  ‘‘Can  such  a thing 
be  done  ? And  if  so,  how  much  will  it  cost  ?”  I will  answer,  “ It  can 
be  done,”  and  if  you  will  assist  in  the  management,  in  ten  or  fifteen 
years  at  most,  every  penny  of  the  investment  will  be  returned  to  the 
investors  in  actual  dollars  and  cents,  and  our  young  men  will  have 
an  institution  that  they  and  all  of  us  will  be  proud  of,  worth  at 
least  fifty  per  cent  more  than  its  actual  cost,  and  ot  untold  value  to 
our  people  for  the  benefits  that  had  been  received,  and  that  would 
continue  to  be  received,  through  its  influence  and  instrumentality 
for  ages  to  come. 


62 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


For  the  purpose  of  explanation,  I will  suppose  that  such  an 
institution  was  desired  in  this  city  of  Baltimore.  To  insure  suc- 
cess and  general  assistance  in  the  work,  it  should  be  managed  by  a 
board  of  directors,  of  which  the  cardinal  archbishop  and  his  suc- 
cessors in  office  should  be  president,  and  have  the  appointing  power. 
The  directorship  to  consist  of  the  rector  and  two  laymen  from  every 
parish  in  the  city,  the  rector  to  be  a member  by  virtue  of  his  sacred 
office,  the  lay  directors  to  be  appointed  for  two  or  three  years,  as 
might  be  decided  upon.  If  a larger  board  was  deemed  necessary  at 
the  commencement  of  the  work,  it  could  be  obtained  by  appointing 
directors  at  large,  or  three  laymen  from  every  parish.  It  is  unneces- 
sary for  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  immense  influence  such  a 
board  would  possess,  and  with  what  unanimity  and  good  will  the 
confidence  and  support  of  the  entire  people  would  be  given  to  it. 
In  order  to  get  the  means  to  erect  and  equip  the  building,  they 
could  issue  share  certificates  of  $ioeach,  secured  upon  the  building, 
and  payable  at  their  option.  I feel  confident  with  such  a board 
and  such  prospects  for  the  success  of  this  glorious  work,  that  every 
Catholic  man  and  woman  in  the  city  would  purchase  these  shares 
according  to  their  means,  and  that  the  necessary  sum  to  complete 
the  building  would  be  obtained  as  if  by  magic.  There  should  be 
committees  appointed  to  direct  the  different  branches;  such  as 
finance,  site,  plans,  building,  educational  classes,  library,  gym- 
nasium, Catholic  interests,  constitution  and  by-laws,  and  an  execu- 
tive committee,  which  last  should  consist  of  the  chairmen  of  all  the 
committees.  Of  course  it  would  be  impossible  for  His  Eminence  to 
attend  to  the  minute  details  of  all  the  work,  but  with  such  com- 
mittees and  learned,  able  priests  on  the  library,  educational,  and 
Catholic  interest  committees,  his  labors  would  be  much  relieved. 
The  executive  committee  should  select  a general  secretary  who 
would  attend  to  the  clerical  work  of  the  institution,  and  with  com- 
petent instructors  for  each  department,  success  would  be  assured 
from  the  very  first  day  of  its  opening. 

On  the  completion  of  the  building  there  should  be  ready  for 
pupils,  established  classes  in  the  following  branches:  Penmanship, 
grammar,  arithmetic,  bookkeeping,  stenography,  and  type-writing, 
drawing  and  vocal  music,  also  the  study  of  the  German  and  Spanish 
languages,  for  which  the  charges  should  be  ten  cents  a week. 
Special  studies  could  be  provided  for  when  a sufficient  number  of 
young  men  would  sign  an  application  which  would  be  presented  to 
the  directors  for  their  establishment,  and  for  which  the  charges 
might  be  twenty  cents  per  week,  the  directors  in  every  case  engag- 
ing a competent  teacher  for  every  class  and  study.  Each  class  and 
society  should  have  the  privilege  of  electing  their  own  president, 
secretary,  treasurer,  or  other  officers,  whom  the  directors  would  hold 
responsible  for  the  proper  government  of  their  members  and  prompt 
payment  of  dues.  The  presidents  of  all  the  societies  and  classes 
should  form  a young  men’s  committee,  whose  duty  it  would  be  to 
arrange  for  the  weekly  social  entertainments,  also  to  provide  young 
men  to  serve  as  a reception  committee  every  evening  at  the  rooms 
to  meet,  welcome,  and  introduce  members  and  visitors.  They  would 
also  have  the  arrangement  of  the  yearly  exhibition  of  the  work  of 
the  different  societies  and  classes,  thereby  welding  the  entire  mem- 
bership into  a compact  body  of  workers,  and  at  the  same  time  leave 
each  class  and  society  its  own  individuality  and  perfect  freedom  in 
the  full  exercise  and  control  of  its  own  affairs. 

For  the  social  entertainments  the  parlors  of  the  building  should 
be  at  their  service  when  needed,  free  of  charge,  and  for  the  yearly 
exhibitions,  they  should  be  furnished  on  the  same  terms  with  a 
room,  or  rooms,  capable  of  accomodating  their  most  extensive  and 
ambitious  efforts.  By  such  arrangement  of  forces,  the  young  men 
would  have  all  their  time  for  work  and  progress,  and  be  relieved  ot 
the  great  responsibility  of  executive  work,  which  we  all  know  would 
be  more  successfully  performed  by  older  and  more  experienced  men. 
It  would  also  furnish  a school  where  the  young  could  learn  from  the 
ripe  experience  of  able  men  the  care  and  study  needed  to  insure 
success  in  any  and  every  undertaking. 

The  membership  of  the  institution  should  consist  of  active, 
honorary,  library  and  non-Catliolic  members.  The  active  members 
would  be  respectable  Catholic  gentlemen  of  sixteen  years  and  over, 
who,  possessing  membership  in  the  library  and  reading  room,  would 
be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of  the  institution  on  payment  of  the 
dues  attached  to  each,  which  might  be  as  follows:  Library  and 
reading  room,  $4.00  per  year;  gymnasium,  $5.00  per  year;  estab- 
lished classes,  ten  cents  per  week,  and  special  classes,  twenty  cents 
per  week. 

The  honorary  members  would  be  those  who  for  special  reasons 
might  be  elected  by  the  board  of  directors,  and  who  would  be  en- 
titled to  all  the  privileges  usually  accorded  to  such  members.  The 


library  members  would  be  Catholic  ladies,  and  boys  under  sixteen 
years  of  age,  who  upon  payment  of  $2.00  per  year  would  be  entitled 
to  the  use  of  the  library  and  reading  room  on  week  days  between 
the  hours  of  eight  o’clock  A.  m.,  and  six  o’clock  p.  m. 

Non-Catholic  members  would  be  respectable  non-Catholic  gentle- 
men of  sixteen  years  and  over,  who  upon  presentation  of  a recom- 
mendation from  their  pastor,  or  other  well  known  citizen  of  the  city, 
and  the  payment  of  active  membership  dues,  would  be  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  of  the  institution,  but  would  be  debarred  from 
holding  any  office. 

Such  an  institution  would  be  a centre  of  Catholic  thought  and 
progress,  and  a source  of  just  and  honest  pride  to  every  Catholic  in 
the  country.  I trust  that  this  year,  made  memorable  in  the  history 
of  the  country  by  this,  the  first  meeting  of  an  American  Catholic 
congress,  will  see  the  beginning  of  many  such  societies  in  every 
state  in  the  Union. 

Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  of  New  York,  said:  Mr.  Chairman 
and  Gentlemen  of  the  Congress : Before  presenting  the  report  of  the 
committee  on  resolutions  it  is  proper  that  I should  state,  that  in 
view  of  the  very  short  time  which  has  been  allotted  to  our  work, 
a number  of  subjects  that  necessarily  ought  to  have  been  considered 
were  not  discussed  by  us.  The  few  subjects  that  have  been  in- 
cluded in  the  report  necessitate  that  I should  at  the  outset  ask 
for  the  committee  your  considerate  indulgence.  We  have  done 
within  the  limited  time  all  wre  could  do.  We  have  touched  the 
more  general  subjects  as  we  regarded  them,  and  we  trust  that  in 
any  discussion  which  may  take  place  in  reference  to  the  work  of 
the  committee  you  will  take  the  situation  into  account,  and  give 
us  the  same  considerate  indulgence  that  has  been  given  to  all  the 
other  committees  and  officers  of  this  convention.  (Applause.) 
The  report  of  the  committee  on  resolutions  is  as  follows: 

RESOLUTIONS. 

The  meeting  of  the  first  congress  of  Catholic  laymen  in  the 
United  States,  to  celebrate  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  American  hierarchy,  is  an  event  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  our  church  and  country.  It  would  seem  eminently 
proper  that  we,  the  laymen  of  the  church,  should  meet  and  renew 
our  allegiance  to  the  doctrines  we  profess;  that  we  should  show  to 
our  fellow  countrymen  the  true  relations  that  exist  between  the 
church  that  we  obey  and  love,  and  the  government  of  our  choice; 
that  we  should  proclaim  that  unity  of  sentiment  upon  all  subjects 
presented  to  us,  which  has  ever  been  the  source  of  Catholic  strength, 
and  that  in  a spirit  of  perfect  charity  towards  every  denomination, 
we  should  freely  exchange  our  views  in  relation  to  all  matters  which 
affect  us  as  members  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  we  rejoice  at  the  marvellous  develop- 
ment of  our  country,  and  regard  with  just  pride  the  part  taken  by 
Catholics  in  such  development.  I11  the  words  of  the  pastoral  issued 
by  the  archbishops  and  bishops  of  the  United  States,  assembled  in 
the  third  plenary  council  of  Baltimore:  “We  claim  to  be  acquainted 
both  with  the  laws,  institutions,  and  spirit  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  with  the  laws,  institutions,  and  spirit  of  our  country,  and  we 
emphatically  declare  that  there  is  no  antagonism  between  them.’’ 

We  repudiate  with  equal  earnestness  the  assertion  that  we  need 
to  lay  aside  any  of  our  devotedness  to  our  church  to  be  true  Amer- 
icans; the  insinuation  that  we  need  to  abate  any  of  our  love  for  our 
country’s  principles  and  institutions  to  be  faithful  Catholics. 

We  believe  that  our  country’s  heroes  were  the  instruments  of 
the  God  of  Nations  in  establishing  this  home  of  freedom;  to  both 
the  Almighty  and  to  his  instruments  in  the  work  we  look  with 
grateful  reverence,  and  to  maintain  the  inheritance  of  freedom 
which  they  have  left  us,  should  it  ever — which  God  forbid — be  im- 
perilled, our  Catholic  citizens  will  be  bound  to  stand  forward  as  one 
man,  ready  to  pledge  anew  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their 
sacred  honor. 

We  cannot,  however,  shut  our  eyes  to  the  many  dangers  that 
threaten  the  destruction  of  that  social  fabric  upon  which  depend  our 
peace,  our  liberty,  and  our  free  institutions.  Although  our  wealth 
has  increased  and  prosperity  abounds,  our  cities  have  multiplied  and 
our  states  increased,  we  find,  under  the  shadow  of  this  system,  in- 
cipient pauperism,  discontented  men,  women,  and  children,  without 
the  benefits  of  education,  without ' the  advantages  of  religion,  de- 
prived of  any  share  in  that  abundance  of  participation  in  those 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


63 


blessings  which,  through  our  free  institutions,  God  Almighty  de- 
signed for  the  people  of  our  land. 

As  to  the  heed  to  be  paid  to  the  rights  of  the  individual,  we  favor 
those  means,  measures,  and  systems  by  which  these  are  to  be  secured. 

We  recognize  next  in  importance  to  religion  itself  education  as 
one  of  the  chief  factors  in  forming  the  character  of  the  individual, 
the  virtue  of  the  citizen,  and  promoting  the  advance  of  a true  civil- 
ization. Therefore,  we  are  committed  to  a sound,  popular  educa- 
tion, which  demands  not  only  physical  and  intellectual,  but  also  the 
moral  and  religious  training  of  our  youth. 

As  in  the  state  schools,  no  provision  is  made  for  teaching  relig- 
ion, we  must  continue  to  support  our  own  schools,  multiply  and  per- 
fect colleges  and  universities  already  established  and  others,  so  that 
the  benefits  of  a Christian  education  may  be  brought  within  the 
reach  of  every  Catholic  child  in  these  United  States. 

We  also  recognize  among  the  three  great  educational  agencies, 
besides  the  church  and  school,  the  Christian  home.  “The  root  of 
the  commonwealth  is  in  the  homes  of  the  people.’’  Whatever  im- 
perils its  permanency,  security,  and  peace,  is  a blow  aimed,  not  only 
at  individual  rights,  but  is  an  attempt  to  subvert  civil  society  and 
Christian  civilization. 

Therefore,  we  denounce  the  existence  and  development  of  Mor- 
monism,  and  the  tendency  to  multiply  causes  of  divorce  a vinculo , 
as  plague  spots  on  our  civilization,  a discredit  to  our  government,  a 
degradation  of  the  female  sex,  and  a standing  menace  to  the  sanctity 
of  the  marriage  bond. 

We  likewise  hold  that  it  is  not  sufficient  for  individual  Catho- 
lics to  shun  bad  or  dangerous  societies,  but  they  ought  to  take  part  in 
good  and  useful  ones.  The  importance  of  Catholic  societies,  the 
necessity  of  union  and  concert  of  action  to  accomplish  aught,  are 
manifest.  These  societies  should  be  organized  on  a religious,  and 
not  on  a race  or  national  basis.  We  must  always  remember  that 
the  Catholic  Church  knows  no  north  or  south,  no  east  or  west, 
no  race,  no  color.  National  societies,  as  such,  have  no  place  in  the 
church  in  this  country  ; but,  like  this  congress  itself,  they  should 
be  Catholic  and  American. 

We  commend  the  plan  and  form  of  the  St.  Vincent  de  Paul 
Society  as  a typical  Catholic  society.  It  is  impossible  to  enumerate 
all  the  societies  whose  labors  have  done  so  much  in  the  past  to  suc- 
cor the  poor  and  alleviate  human  misery  ; and  it  must,  therefore,  be 
left  to  individual  action,  to  select  the  field  in  which  each  shall  aid 
in  religious  and  charitable  work. 

As  our  young  men,  however,  are  the  hope  of  the  future,  we 
especially  commend  their  societies  to  the  support  and  encourage- 
ment of  Catholics.  As  these  were  commended  in  a special  manner 
by  the  plenary  council,  we  recommend  the  establishment  of  these 
societies  throughout  the  land  and  urge  upon  the  laity  the  import- 
ance of  supporting  them  by  every  means  within  their  power. 

We  recommend  the  extension  of  societies  designed  to  assist  the 
widows  and  children  of  deceased  members;  societies  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor  and  distressed,  not  forgetting  measures  tending  to  improve 
the  condition  of  inmates  of  our  penal  institutions. 

Another  danger  which  menaces  our  republic  is  the  constant  con- 
flict between  capital  and  labor.  We,  therefore,  at  all  times  must 
view  with  feelings  of  regret  and  alarm  any  antagonism  existing 
between  them,  because  thereby  society  itself  is  imperilled. 

With  the  church,  we  condemn  nihilism,  socialism,  and  com- 
munism, and  we  equally  condemn  the  heartless  greed  of  capital. 
The  remedy  must  be  sought  in  the  mediation  of  the  church,  through 
her  action  on  the  individual  conscience,  and  thereby  on  society, 
teaching  each  its  respective  duties,  as  well  as  rights;  and  in  such 
civil  enactments  as  have  been  rendered  necessary  by  these  altered 
conditions.  As  stated  by  his  eminence,  Cardinal  Gibbons:  “Labor 
has  its  sacred  rights,  as  well  as  its  dignity.  Paramount  among  the 
rights  of  the  laboring  classes  is  their  privilege  to  organize  or  to  form 
themselves  into  societies  for  their  mutual  protection  and  benefit.  In 
honoring  and  upholding  labor,  the  nation  is  strengthening  its  own 
hands,  as  well  as  paying  a tribute  to  worth;  for  a contented  and 
happy  working  class  are  the  best  safeguard  of  the  republic.  ’ ’ 

We  disapprove  of  the  employment  of  very  young  minors, 
whether  male  or  female,  in  factories,  as  tending  to  dwarf  and  retard 
the  true  development  of  the  wage  earners  of  the  future. 

We  pledge  ourselves  to  cooperate  with  the  clergy  in  discussing 
and  in  solving  those  great  economic  and  social  questions  which  affect 
the  interests  and  well-being  of  the  church,  the  country,  and  society 
at  large. 

We  respectfully  protest  against  any  change  in  the  policy  of  the 
government  in  the  matter  of  the  education  of  the  Indians,  by  which 
they  will  be  deprived  of  Christian  teaching. 


The  amelioration  and  promotion  of  the  physical  and  moral 
culture  of  the  negro  race  is  a subject  of  the  utmost  concern,  and  we 
pledge  ourselves  to  assist  our  clergy  in  all  ways  tending  to  effect 
any  improvement  in  their  condition. 

We  are  in  favor  of  Catholics  taking  greater  part  than  they  have 
hitherto  taken  in  general  philanthropic  and  reformatory  movements. 
The  obligation  to  help  the  needy,  and  to  instruct  the  ignorant,  is 
not  limited  to  the  needy  and  ignorant  of  our  own  communion;  but 
we  are  concerned,  both  as  Catholics  and  as  Americans,  in  the  refor- 
mation of  all  the  criminals  and  the  support  of  all  the  poor  in  the 
country.  By  mingling  more  in  such  works  of  natural  virtue,  as  our 
non-Catholic  citizens  are  engaged  in,  and  taking  our  proper  share  in 
the  management  of  prisons  and  hospitals,  we  might  exert  a Catholic 
influence  outside  of  our  own  body,  make  ourselves  better  known, 
and  infuse  into  those  good  works  something  of  supernatural  charity, 
at  the  same  time  that  we  are  solacing  the  unfortunate  and  reforming 
the  erring;  and  we  should  be  able  to  insist  on  Catholic  inmates 
being  freely  ministered  to  by  their  own  clergy.  We  must  assert  and 
secure  the  right  of  conscience  of  Catholics  in  all  institutions  under 
public  control. 

There  are  many  Christian  issues  in  which  Catholics  could  come 
together  with  non-Catholics,  and  shape  civil  legislation  for  the  pub- 
lic weal.  In  spite  of  rebuff  and  injustice,  and  overlooking  zealotry, 
we  should  seek  alliance  with  non-Catholics  for  proper  Sunday 
observance.  Without  going  over  to  the  Judaic  Sabbath,  we  can 
bring  the  masses  over  to  the  moderation  of  the  Christian  Sunday. 
To  effect  this  we  must  set  our  faces  sternly  against  the  sale  of  intoxi- 
cating beverages  on  Sunday.  The  corrupting  influence  of  saloons 
on  politics,  the  crime  and  pauperism  resulting  from  excessive  drink- 
ing, require  legislative  restriction  which  we  can  aid  in  procuring  by 
joining  our  influence  with  that  of  the  other  enemies  of  intemperance. 
Let  us  resolve  that  drunkenness  shall  be  made  odious,  and  give  prac- 
tical encouragement  and  support  to  Catholic  temperance  societies. 
We  favor  the  passage  and  enforcement  of  laws  rigidly  closing  saloons 
on  Sunday,  and  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquors  to  minors  and  intoxi- 
cated persons. 

Efforts  should  be  made  to  promote  Catholic  reading.  It  is  our 
duty  to  support  liberally  good  Catholic  journals  and  books,  and 
acquaint  ourselves  with  Catholic  doctrine  and  opinion  on  the  import- 
ant questions  constantly  coming  to  the  front  and  demanding  right 
answers  and  just,  practical  solutions.  There  are  comparatively  few 
Catholics  who  cannot  afford  the  cost  of  a Catholic  journal,  or  do  not 
spend  much  more  for  a story -paper  or  novel  than  the  price  of  one. 
We  not  only  recommend  Catholics  to  subscribe  more  generally  for 
Catholic  periodicals,  quarterly,  monthly,  or  weekly,  but  look  with 
eagerness  for  the  establishment  of  daily  Catholic  newspapers  in  our 
large  cities  and  a Catholic  associated  press  agency.  If  our  Catholic 
literature  is  not  equal  to  the  standard  by  which  we  measure  it,  this 
is  due,  at  least  in  part,  to  the  slight  encouragement  now  given  to 
Catholic  writers  of  the  better  type.  If  the  best  Catholic  books  were 
extensively  purchased  and  read,  more  would  be  written  which  we 
should  be  proud  of.  We  recommend,  therefore,  the  work  of  Cath- 
olic circulating  libraries  and  reading  circles,  and  also  efforts  to  have 
the  best  Catholic  books  and  periodicals  introduced  into  public  libra- 
ries. But  we  do  not  call  all  books  Catholic  that  are  written  by 
Catholics,  nor  a journal  which  is  Catholic  on  one  page  and  infidel 
or  immoral  on  another. 

As  fast  as  practicable  we  hope  for  the  introduction  of  proper 
church  music  in  all  our  churches  where  other  music  is  now  heard. 
The  music  should  help  devotion  at  the  divine  service,  and  not  be  such 
as  tends  to  divert  the  mind  from  heavenly  thoughts.  Efforts  should 
be  made  to  have  the  congregation  join  in  the  singing — a Catholic 
custom  formerly,  but  practised  only  in  a few  churches  nowadays. 

We  cannot  conclude  without  recording  our  solemn  conviction 
that  the  absolute  freedom  of  the  Holy  See  is  equally  indispensable 
to  the  peace  of  the  church  and  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

We  demand  in  the  name  of  humanity  and  justice,  that  this 
freedom  be  scrupulously  respected  by  all  secular  governments. 

We  protest  against  the  assumption  by  any  such  government  of 
a right  to  affect  the  interests  or  control  the  action  of  our  Holy  Father 
by  any  form  of  legislation  or  other  public  act  to  which  his  full  appro- 
bation has  not  been  previously  given,  and  we  pledge  to  Leo  XIII, 
the  worthy  pontiff  to  whose  hands  Almighty  God  has  committed  the 
helm  of  Peter’s  bark  amid  the  tempests  of  this  stormy  age,  the  loyal 
sympathy  and  unstinted  aid  of  all  his  spiritual  children  in  vindicat- 
ing that  perfect  liberty  which  he  justly  claims  as  his  sacred  and 
inalienable  right. 

The  report  of  the  committee  on  resolutions  was  unanimously 
adopted. 


64 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


CATHOLIC  AMERICAN  LITERATURE. 

EIGHTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  CONDE  B.  P ALLEN,  PH.D.,  OF  ST. 

LOUIS,  MO. 

We  hear  it  constantly  asserted  that  Catholics  in  this  country 
have  achieved  but  an  insignificent  success  in  the  field  of  literature. 
The  truth  of  this  charge,  if  the  matter  may  be  regarded  in  that 
light,  we  cannot  entirely  deny;  but  if  the  proper  limitations  be 
drawn  around  the  scope  of  the  assertion,  it  will  be  found  to  be  true 
only  in  a comparative  sense.  The  absolute  declaration  that  Ameri- 
can Catholic  literature  has  been  a failure  rests  upon  the  assumption 
that  it  has  had  every  opportunity  of  becoming  a success.  It  needs, 
however,  but  a moment's  reflection  upon  the  conditions  which  have 
encompassed  its  development,  to  show  how  groundless  is  the  pre- 
sumption. 

It  is  an  evident  law  that  the  culture  of  letters  only  flourishes 
under  influences  not  to  be  found  in  every  stage  of  social  existence; 
a soil  is  required  peculiar  to  the  nature  of  the  plant,  a soil  fallow 
with  the  settled  usages  of  generations,  mellow  with  the  associations 
of  the  past,  and  rich  with  aspirations  for  the  future.  When  we 
glance  over  our  national  history  of  the  past  ioo  years  we  fail  to  find 
these  conditions  fulfilled.  We  have  been  a growing  nation,  an 
adolescent  people,  with  Titanic  vigor,  it  is  true,  yet  young,  and  in  the 
almost  raw  process  of  formation.  We  have  been  pioneers  clearing 
the  path  for  a civilization  unequalled  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  the 
constructors  of  an  empire’s  foundations,  the  vastness  of  which  por- 
tends the  colossal  proportions  of  that  temple  of  liberty  whose 
roof-tree  yet  looms  in  the  distant  future.  We  have  builded  well 
and  nobly,  and  with  the  grace  of  a propitious  Providence,  we  trust, 
for  all  time.  We  have  carried  civilization  a vast  distance  beyond  the 
stage  in  which  we  found  it,  and  have  elaborated  a system  of  govern- 
ment under  which  the  inalienable  liberty  of  the  individual,  the  key 
note  of  true  civilization,  finds  its  surest  guaranty  and  its  widest 
scope.  But  the  work  of  fashioning  and  shaping  to  this  great  end 
has  kept  our  hands  and  our  brains  busy  with  the  labor  of  construc- 
tion. We  have  had  to  clear  the  forest,  prepare  the  soil,  build  up 
innumerable  cities,  construct  mighty  systems  of  railroads,  develop 
the  mine,  explore  and  navigate  the  largest  water  courses  in  the  world, 
bridge  countless  rivers,  regulate  the  intricacies  of  an  immense 
internal  commerce,  and  above  all  solve  the  greatest  problem  which 
ever  taxed  the  genius  of  a people,  the  problem  of  self-government. 
Our  progress  has  never  for  an  instant  ceased;  our  toil  has  been  un- 
remitting, and  in  one  short  century  has  advanced  with  colossal 
stride  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  across  5,000  miles  of  continent  to 
the  distant  shores  of  the  Pacific.  Little  time,  short  leisure,  and  few 
opportunities  in  this  unprecedented  march  of  progress  have  been 
granted  to  us  to  cultivate  the  field  of  letters,  and  if  our  national 
literature  lack  that  mature  fulness  which  is  to  be  found  amongst 
the  peoples  of  the  Old  World,  our  wonder  should  rather  be  that  we 
have  done  so  well  than  have  accomplished  what  by  comparison 
seems  so  little. 

If  our  national  literature  has  been  so  straitened  in  its  growth  by 
the  absence  of  those  favoring  conditions  which  are  so  essential  to  its 
highest  development,  with  peculiar  and  intense  emphasis  may  the 
same  standard  of  excellence  be  applied  to  Catholic  American  litera- 
ture. Here  not  only  have  these  general  and  adverse  circumstances 
prevailed,  but  peculiar  and  unique  influences  have  been  constantly 
brought  to  bear  against  its  progress.  Our  Catholic  population,  ex- 
cepting within  the  past  twenty  years,  has  borne  but  an  insignifi- 
cant proportion  in  the  country’s  census;  and  those  composing  it  for 
the  main  part  have  been  the  hewers  of  wood  and  the  drawers  of 
water,  the  sons  of  labor  with  hardened  hands  and  sweating  brow, 
whose  humble  lot  has  known  little  of  this  world’s  comforts.  Theirs 
has  been  the  portion  of  manual  toilers  with  little  opportunity  to 
read,  and  much  less  to  stimulate  or  contribute  to  the  development  of 
literature.  With  pick  and  shovel,  hod  and  trowel,  hammer  and 
anvil,  or  in  positions  of  servitude,  the  majority  of  American  Catho- 
lics have  worked  out  their  mission  in  the  nation’s  history,  until 
with  the  blessings  of  a free  government  we  find  them  in  the  present 
generation  by  • force  of*  industry,  perseverance,  and  ability  taking 
their  places  with  credit  and  honor  in  every  honorable  and  illustrious 
pursuit.  Not  only,  however,  has  Catholic  literature  had  to  con- 
tend against  the  want  of  an  audience,  the  lack  of  a public  de- 
mand to  stimulate  and  develop  it,  but  it  has  had  to  face  the 
almost  overwhelming  prejudice  of  an  alien  faith.  On  the  one  hand 
the  Catholic  writer  has  found  a very  limited  hearing  among  his 
own,  and  on  the  other  an  almost  flat  refusal  to  listen  to  what  he 
might  have  to  say  by  the  majority  of  his  countrymen.  To  be  Cath- 


olic was  to  be  unheeded;  those  of  his  own  faith  had  no  ears  to  hear, 
and  those  of  another  had  obstinately  closed  theirs  to  his  utterances. 
Under  these  untoward  conditions  what  hope  could  there  be  for  the 
advance  of  Catholic  literature?  Is  it  strange  that  its  growth  has 
not  been  as  vigorous  as  we  would  wish,  that  it  has  not  burgeoned  to 
the  maturity  for  which  we  yet  hope?  Yet  in  spite  of  the  nipping 
frost  of  neglect,  the  chilling  indifference  of  the  public,  we  have  had 
a literature,  which  burst  into  blossom  through  the  inherent  virtue 
of  the  seed  from  which  it  sprang  rather  than  from  the  fostering  care 
of  any  external  demand. 

To  mention  the  illustrious  name  of  Orestes  A.  Brownson  is 
to  place  before  your  minds  that  which  is  foremost  and  most  char- 
acteristic in  Catholic  American  literature.  A convert  and  a typical 
American,  his  life  was  a practical  exemplification  of  the  principles 
he  so  dearly  cherished  and  so  strenuously  advocated.  His  influence 
over  the  Catholic  mind  of  this  country  has  been  the  widest,  and  his 
impress  the  deepest  of  any  pen  wielded  in  the  Catholic  cause.  I11 
polemical  writing  he  has  had  no  equal  in  all  American  literature. 
Endowed  with  a colossal  intellect,  imbued  with  a lion-like  courage, 
gifted  with  a masterful  power  of  expression  and  a penetrating  keen- 
ness of  insight,  he  waged  the  battle  of  truth  long  and  vigorously, 
nobly  and  successfully.  His  was  no  easy  path  to  the  light  of  truth  ; 
he  literally  hewed  his  way  through  the  opposing  barriers  of  a thou- 
sand difficulties,  which  would  have  overwhelmed  a lesser  man  in 
utter  despair.  His  career  stands  out  a monumental  example  of  the 
Catholic  American,  a brilliant  light  and  a heroic  guide  to  his  fellow 
countrymen. 

Associated  early  with  Orestes  A.  Brownson  is  the  name  of 
one  who  but  lately  passed  from  our  midst  to  the  contemplation  of 
those  eternal  truths  after  which  he  had  here  so  ardently  aspired. 
Many  of  the  traits  which  so  conspicuously  shone  in  the  Agamemnon 
of  our  Catholic  literature,  likewise  characterized  the  late  Rev.  Isaac 
T.  Hecker.  He  possessed  the  same  thorough  honesty,  the  same 
ardent  earnestness,  the  same  fervent  faith,  and  the  same  deep  and 
genuine  love  of  our  liberty-giving  institutions.  The  intensity  of  his 
love  of  country  was  second  only  to  the  love  of  his  holy  faith.  No 
man  of  our  age  has  displayed  a more  comprehensive  grasp  of  its  con- 
trolling spirit ; no  one  has  shown  a deeper  insight  into  the  principles 
which  are  shaping  the  history  of  the  century.  His  sympathies  were 
as  wide  as  his  insight  deep,  and  his  life  was  a consecration  to  the 
service  of  his  church  and  his  fellow-men.  Although  his  pen  may 
not  be  called  prolific,  his  words  are  charged  with  an  intensity  of 
thought  and  a breadth  of  suggestion  that  amply  make  up  for  the 
lack  of  volumes.  No  Catholic  writer  has  so  luminously  portrayed 
the  beautiful  harmony  which  exists  between  the  divine  truth  ol 
Catholicity  and  the  spirit  of  our  republican  institutions.  He  has 
vindicated  the  title  of  Catholics  to  American  citizenship  in  such  a 
way  as  not  only  to  merit  the  gratitude  of  his  fellow-Catholics,  but  to 
win  the  honest  applause  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 

Others  there  are  whose  work  in  the  field  of  Catholic  literature 
entitles  them  to  more  than  a passing  tribute.  But  as  a retrospect  of 
the  past  is  practically  outside  of  the  scope  of  this  paper,  and  the 
broad  prospect  of  the  future  stretches  invitingly  before  us,  want  of 
both  time  and  space  forces  us  to  the  consideration  of  what  Catholic 
literature  is  to  be,  however  reluctantly  we  may  turn  away  from  such 
renowned  names  as  John  England,  Martin  John  Spalding  and  others 
of  lesser  note,  but  none  the  less  “ names  not  writ  in  water.”  The 
past  has  inscribed  its  own  record,  and  the  signet  of  time  is  upon  it. 
He  who  opens  its  pages  may  read  for  himself  its  unalterable  and 
often  profitable  lesson.  Though  there  are  not  many  Catholic  names 
upon  them  illustrious  in  American  literature,  those  that  do  stand 
there  have  left  an  impress, of  which,  when  we  look  back  upon  the  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  their  work,  we  may  be  justly  proud,  and  from 
which  we  may  catch  the  breath  of  inspiration  for  the  future. 

That  the  face  of  the  earth  has  been  wonderfully  changed  in  the 
past  fifty  years  is  no  longer  a novelty  to  us;  it  has  become  one  of 
the  commonplaces  of  life.  Not  only,  however,  has  there  been  a 
marvellous  development  in  the  material  conditions  of  the  civilized 
world,  but  iu  its  intellectual  aspect  there  has  taken  place  what- may 
be  not  improperly  called  a revolution.  This  is  an  age  of  the  diffu- 
sion of  thought.  I do  not  mean  that  the  masses  of  the  people  think 
for  themselves,  but  that  the  speculations  of  thinkers  through  the 
unlimited  convenience  of  the  printing  press,  reach  the  public  mind 
in  one  shape  or  another,  and  there  leave  an  indelible  impress  for 
good  or  for  evil.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  thought  has  become  diffu- 
sive, and  has  wrought  a vast  change  in  the  mental  attitude  of  the 
world.  Literature  has  become  popularized  and  the  masses  now 
drink  of  its  fountains,  pure  or  foul.  This  is  also  an  age  of  theory; 
an  age  bold  in  its  speculations  upon  all  things  sacred  and  profane. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


65 


It  is  ati  age  of  rationalism,  that  is,  an  age  in  which  human  reason 
summons  before  the  bar  of  its  judgment  not  only  the  doings  of  men, 
but  the  revelation  of  God,  although  in  no  age  have  the  fundamental 
principles  of  reason  been  so  constantly  outraged.  It  is  an  age  ol 
intellectual  conflict;  theory  clashes  with  theory;  it  is  therefore  an 
age  of  mental  confusion,  of  doubt,  of  scepticism,  of  nihilism,  ol 
agnosticism.  It  is  an  age  which  has  lost  an  ideal,  and  endeavors  to 
substitute  its  many  idols  in  the  place  of  its  lost  hope.  But  it  is  not 
only  amongst  those  who  think  and  write  that  this  condition  holds; 
it  has  found  its  way  to  the  public  at  large,  where  it  can  be  and  is 
put  into  practical  effects.  It  is  emphatically  an  age  of  transition; 
an  age  which  is  witnessing  the  awakening  of  human  intelligence 
from  a lethargy  cast  on  it  by  the  doctrines  of  a system  that  for 
three  centuries  has  lain  like  an  incubus  upon  the  human  mind.  Men 
are  rebelling  against  the  principles  laid  down  by  the  religious  revo- 
lution of  the  sixteenth  century;  they  are  practically  repudiating  the 
doctrine  of  “man’s  total  depravity”  and  the  “irresponsibility  of  the 
human  will.”  Human  rights  are  asserting  themselves  against  a 
false  principle,  which  has  held  them  in  bondage  for  300  years. 
But  human  reason  thus  seeking  its  liberty  in  throwing  off  the 
yoke  imposed  upon  it  by  the  so-called  reformers,  has  become  in- 
toxicated with  its  own  freedom.  Unwonted  light  has  blinded  its 
eyes,  and  in  its  fierce  attack  upon  that  distortion  of  Christian  truth, 
it  has  unfortunately  failed  to  see  that  its  enemy  is  not  Christianity, 
but  its  counterfeit.  As  a consequence  we  are  witnessing  a fierce 
onslaught  upon  divine  revelation  in  the  name  of  reason  and  science. 
To  the  non-Catholic  mind  Protestantism  is  Christianity,  and  with 
the  former’s  unreasonableness  is  supposed  to  fall  the  entire  fabric  ol 
the  Christian  dispensation.  Having  rejected  a divine  revelation 
under  the  impulse  of  this  delusion  human  reason  is  thrown  violently 
back  upon  its  own  insufficiency,  and  endeavors  to  construct  out  of 
its  limitations  a religious  system  to  meet  the  wants  of  human  nature. 
As  a result  we  see  the  various  conflicting  isms  into  which  it  has 
split. 

What  is  the  position  of  the  Catholic- American  writer  in  this 
conflict,  and  what  are  his  resources  ? As  the  difficulty  which  con- 
fronts him  lies  primarily  in  the  regions  of  human  reason,  it  is  neces- 
sary for  him  to  be  familiar  with  the  science  of  the  rational  faculty. 
The  confusion  of  the  modern  intellect  results,  not  from  a vitiated 
condition  of  the  reason,  but  from  its  perversion.  It  is  not  that  the 
faculty  is  diseased,  but  its  uses  are  not  known.  It  has  become  dizzy 
with  the  exhilaration  of  its  new-found  freedom.  Exalted  by  some  to 
the  throne  of  deity,  debased  by  some  to  the  level  of  the  brutes,  it 
alternately  exults  and  despairs.  It  claims  complete  emancipation, 
yet  in  the  same  breath  declares  its  utter  subjection  to  matter;  withal 
it  poses  as  the  supreme  arbiter  of  all  things,  beyond  whose  dicta 
there  is  no  further  tribunal  of  appeal.  It  therefore  becomes  the 
duty  of  the  Catholic  writer  to  point  out  the  true  functions  of  reason, 
to  reestablish  it  in  its  legitimate  sphere  of  action;  to  show  how  far 
it  reaches  and  where  it  stops;  to  combat  its  pretensions  and  to  vin- 
dicate its  dignity;  to  demonstrate  its  infallibility  in  its  proper  field, 
and  yet  prove  its  Weakness  in  matters  where  it  often  arrogates  most 
assurance.  He  will  have  to  make  clear  that  Catholicity  in  no  way 
compromises  reason,  and  at  the  same  time  show  that  reason  alone  is 
not  an  all-sufficient  guide  to  man.  As  reason  itself  proclaims,  there 
can  be  no  antagonism  between  the  light  of  reason  which  comes  from 
God,  and  the  light  of  faith  which  equally  comes  from  the  same 
divine  source.  Faith  supplements  knowledge  and  strengthens  the 
natural  faculty.  The  light  of  revelation  illumes  the  human  reason 
and  even  assists  it  in  its  search  after  truths  within  its  natural  com- 
pass. 

To  accomplish  this  work  the  Catholic  writer  needs  to  master 
the  science  of  reason.  Elaborated  to  an  overflowing  fulness,  and 
with  a marvellous  delicacy  of  precision,  this  sublimest  of  all  sciences 
he  will  find  ready  to  his  hand  in  the  giant  labors  of  St.  Thomas  of 
Aquin,  to  whose  works  the  present  great  pontiff,  with  a foresight 
begot  of  his  exalted  office,  has  called  the  attention  of  the  Catholic 
world,  as  the  storehouse  of  those  invincible  principles  with  which 
the  enemies  of  the  church  are  to  be  met  and  overcome.  To  scholas- 
tic philosophy  human  reason  must  return  for  its  own  vindication. 
When  the  religious  revolutionists  of  the  sixteenth  century  abandoned 
the  teachings  of  the  church,  they  also  turned  their  backs  upon  that 
system  of  philosophy  which  Christian  thinkers  had  constructed  out 
of  the  materials  bequeathed  to  them  by  the  Greek  philosophers. 
Among  no  other  people  of  the  earth  had  the  science  of  human  reason 
been  so  highly  and  completely  developed  as  among  the  Greeks. 
Unassisted  by  the  light  of  the  supernatural,  reason  in  Plato  and 
Aristotle  winged  its  highest  flight  and  became  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word  the  “Queen  of  Sciences.”  As  Christianity  is  but 


the  supernatural  supplement  of  nature,  a divinely  revealed  light 
from  the  same  source  whence  burns  the  torch  of  human  reason,  a 
system  of  divine  grace  from  above  designed  to  correspond  with 
man’s  natural  aspiration  from  below,  so  in  keeping  with  its  divine 
character,  Christianity  seized  upon  those  rational  principles  which 
Aristotle  had  so  masterfully  systematized,  purged  them  of  the  acci- 
dental errors  of  heathenism,  illumed  them  with  its  gracious  truth, 
infused  into  them  its  undying  vitality,  and  made  them  preeminently 
its  own.  It  was  from  this  most  perfect  system  of  rational  science 
that  the  nations  turned  their  faces  when  they  embraced  the  false  prin- 
ciples fathered  by  Luther  and  Calvin.  In  the  place  of  human  free- 
dom they  substituted  the  slave-will  of  the  one  and  the  predetermined 
will  of  the  other;  in  the  place  of  man’s  natural  rights  they  put  the 
hideous  doctrine  of  his  total  depravity.  Reason  was  dethroned  and 
human  nature  debased.  That  accord  between  nature  and  grace, 
between  reason  and  faith,  which  scholasticism  had  so  lucidly  and 
victoriously  established,  was  rent  asunder  at  one  fell  stroke,  and  a 
false  Christianity  imposed  upon  the  peoples,  who  then  broke  from 
the  authority  of  the  church.  The  harmonious  continuity  with  the 
past  was  severed;  all  true  development  in  the  line  of  philosophy  was 
arrested,  and  reason  abandoned  to  the  confusion  of  contradictory 
theories.  As  a consequence  philosophy  in  Germany  has  rushed 
into  the  empty  void  of  transcendentalism,  in  France  it  has  broken 
asunder  on  the  wheels  of  scepticism,  and  in  England  it  has  mired 
in  the  slough  of  materialism.  To  regain  the  lost  path  reason  must 
return  to  scholasticism,  not  indeed  to  the  formal  methods  of  scho- 
lastic argumentation,  but  to  those  substantial  principles  which  it  has 
laid  down  as  the  basis  of  truth. 

As  Americans,  Catholic  writers  have  a fruitful  opportunity  in 
this  country  to  bring  about  such  a reconcilement.  The  cardinal 
principle  of  our  system  of  government,  the  pivot  upon  which  its  en- 
tire machinery  turns,  is  contained  in  the  natural  truth  that  all  men 
have  an  equal  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness. 
This  is  the  declaration  of  human  reason  affirming  the  essential  free- 
dom of  the  rational  creature.  This  declaration  rests  upon  the  neces- 
sary assumption  that  man  is  good,  not  totally  depraved;  that  he  is 
free,  not  the  predestined  puppet  of  an  implacable  will.  It  is  on  these 
lines  that  our  national  institutions  have  developed;  it  is  on  these 
lines  that  our  greatness  as  a people  has  been  achieved,  and  it  is  only 
on  these  lines  that  we  may  hope  to  shape  the  destinies  of  the  world 
to  the  political  emancipation  of  all  mankind.  When  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  penned,  the  death  knell  of  Calvinism  was 
sounded,  and  human  reason  awoke  in  a new  land  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  its  inalienable  rights.  It  was  but  a step  in  logic  from 
this  declaration  to  that  other  cardinal  principle  of  religious  toler- 
ation, whereby  all  creeds  were  cut  off  from  state  support  and 
given  a fair  field  to  develop  according  to  their  own  inherent  virtues. 
Catholicity  was  then  but  a slender  plant  in  this  country,  but 
it  had  taken  no  mean  part  in  the  achievement  of  our  independence; 
to  this  Washington’s  farewell  address  bears  noble  testimony. 
The  success  of  Catholicity  in  America  in  the  last  century  the  vis- 
ible presence  of  this  congress  attests  more  than  words.  Would  the 
Catholic  Church  of  these  United  States  have  attained  its  present 
great  proportions  had  it  been  inimical  to  our  republican  institutions? 
Unchanged  and  unshaken,  as  when  100  years  ago  this  august  see 
was  established,  it  now  numbers  more  American  citizens  within  its 
fold  than  any  single  denomination  in  the  country.  Can  the  sects 
to-day  be  called  the  same  as  Protestantism  presented  itself  in 
America  at  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war  ? Not  even  slowly, 
but  rapidly,  has  the  process  of  disintegration  been  going  on 
under  the  pressure  of  those  fundamental  principles  contained  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  “This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,” 
says  Father  Hecker,  “when  }^ou  consider  that  every  time  a freeman 
goes  to  the  polls  and  deposits  his  vote  in  the  ballot  box  he  virtually 
condemns  the  dogmas  of  Protestantism  and  practically  repudiates 
the  Reformation.  The  persistent  action  of  the  ballot  box  outweighed 
the  persuasive  force  of  the  Puritan  pulpit.”  To  trust  a government 
to  the  suffrages  of  the  people  is  to  place  faith  in  the  essential  good- 
ness of  human  nature,  to  rely  upon  human  intelligence,  and  to  pro- 
claim man’s  inherent  freedom. 

What  other  basis  does  Catholicity  postulate?  Given  the  free, 
rational  creature  and  the  unrestricted  use  of  that  freedom,  what 
other  ground  does  the  supernatural  light  of  faith  require  ? Is  not 
the  light  of  right  reason  God-given  to  man  in  the  very  constitution 
of  his  nature,  and  is  not  the  light  of  faith  God-given  to  man  in  the 
dispensation  of  the  divine  word  ? Conflict  here  there  cannot  be, 
harmony  there  must  be.  Amongst  a people  whose  political  and 
social  life  is  rooted  in  these  principles  of  right  reason  Catholicity 
becomes  not  only  consonant,  but  the  fitting  supplement  of  their  nat- 


66 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


ural  aspirations.  Before  another  century  has  ushered  in  our  second 
centennial  the  American  people  will  be  either  Catholic  or  agnostic. 
But  agnostic  they  can  never  become  as  long  as  they  remain  true  to 
their  cardinal  principles,  for  the  doctrine  of  nescience  is  the  death  ot 
right  reason. 

It  is  the  province  of  future  Catholic  literature  in  America  to 
cultivate  this  field;  to  demonstrate  that  not  only  there  is  not,  but 
cannot  be,  any  conflict  between  republican  institutions  and  Catholic 
doctrine;  that  a nation  whose  civil  policy  is  based  upon  the  dicta 
of  right  reason  is  the  natural  basis  of  Catholicity,  and  that  the 
widest  liberty  of  the  individual  and  the  surest  safeguard  of  his 
happiness  lies  in  his  American  citizenship  and  the  infallible  guid- 
ance of  the  Catholic  Church.  This  position  cannot  be  too  firmly 
taken;  its  reiteration  cannot  be  too  frequent;  it  cannot  be  pro- 
claimed too  boldly;  it  is  a truth  that  requires  no  trimming;  it  is  a 
fact  whose  evidence  cannot  be  made  too  palpable.  Among  our  non- 
Catholic  fellow-citizens  it  is  not  recognized  because  it  is  not  known. 
While  not  Protestant  in  the  true  meaning  of  the  word,  they  have 
unfortunately  inherited  from  Protestantism  its  natural  prejudice 
against  Catholicity;  they  condemn  the  church  only  because  they  do 
not  know  it.  To  carry  this  light  to  the  mind  of  the  American  peo- 
ple at  large  is  one  of  the  great  missions  of  Catholic  American  liter- 
ature. 

It  is  not,  however,  merely  in  the  formal  presentation  of  this 
great  subject  to  non-Catholics  that  the  best  results  may  be  hoped 
for.  There  is  no  domain  of  literature  where  the  Catholic  writer 
may  not  work  to  the  same  end,  and  no  more  fruitful  field  offers 
itself  to  him  than  history.  The  Comte  de  Maistre  declared  that 
history,  as  written  for  the  past  three  centuries,  has  been  a vast 
conspiracy  against  truth.  While  we  may  not  be  prepared  to  admit 
the  full  sweep  of  this  unconditioned  assertion,  we  are  forced  to 
recognize  not  a little  truth  in  it,  for  English  writers  have  doled  out 
but  scant  justice  to  the  church  in  matters  historical.  The  false 
notions  of  her  history  which  prevail  amongst  non-Catholics  but  too 
plainly  witness  to  the  violation  of  historical  truth  in  her  case.  In 
justification  of  their  separation  from  the  church  in  the  sixteenth 
century  the  so-called  reformers  were  forced  to  depict  the  church  in 
the  worst  possible  light.  Unless  she  were  the  corrupt  and  faithless 
organization  which  they  proclaimed  her  to  be,  the  ground  upon 
which  they  stood  was  as  insecure  as  the  quicksands  of  the  desert. 
With  this  purpose  in  view  they  have  written  that  history.  Like  her 
divine  Model  she  has  been  held  up  to  the  ignorant  contumely  of  the 
crowd.  Now  that  the  motive  of  thus  distorting  truth  has  no  longer 
a reason,  we  may  hope  for  a more  impartial  attitude  on  the  part  oi 
those  not  within  her  pale.  It  devolves  upon  the  Catholic  writer  to 
present  that  history  in  the  highest  interests  of  truth ; to  trace  the 
divine  action,  through  the  church,  upon  human  society,  and 
with  philosophic  judgment  sift  the  chaff  from  the  grain.  Hist- 
ory is  not  a mere  panorama  of  events;  to  depict  the  shifting  scenes  of 
human  life  only  in  the  letter  is  of  little  profit;  the  bare  narration  of 
facts  gives  us  only  the  framework,  the  lifeless  skeleton  of  man's  past 
existence.  It  is  in  the  spirit  of  the  times,  in  which  human  affairs 
find  their  development,  that  the  historian  discovers  their  real 
meaning.  It  is  his  duty,  and  his  art,  to  distinguish  between  the 
complex  movements  out  of  which  human  events  grow,  to  discover 
the  nexus  between  effects  and  their  proper  causes,  and  to  discrim- 
inate between  the  merely  material  side  of  an  epoch  and  its  formal 
principle.  Unless  he  do  this  his  picture  will  have  neither  color  nor 
perspective;  it  will  be  a mere  delineation  of  anatomy,  a mechanical 
description  of  a corpse.  Above  all,  his  judgment  of  any  particular 
epoch  will  have  little  value  if  he  does  not  comprehend  it  in  its  rela- 
tions to  all  other  epochs  of  man’s  career.  Nowhere  is  the  applica- 
tion of  these  principles  so  necessary  as  in  the  history  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church.  In  her  the  human  element  and  the  divine  principle 
which  animates  her  are  not  one  and  the  same;  and  yet  it  is  only  as 
a visibly  organized  body  living  and  breathing  amidst  the  elements  ot 
space  and  time  that  she  can  be  seen.  On  her  purely  human  side  she 
is  in  a state  of  ceaseless  change;  on  her  divine,  she  is  eternally 
immutable.  As  the  soul  is  to  the  human  frame,  so  is  her  divinity 
the  informing  principle  of  a material  body,  that  is  being  perpetually 
renewed.  She  has  seen  many  varying  phases  of  human  existence. 
Under  her  eyes  whole  races  and  nations  have  sprung  up  and  passed 
away  on  the  shifting  currents  of  time.  The  lights  and  shadows  oi 
their  fleeting  existence  have  been  cast  upon  her  eternal  form  as  she 
abided  changelessly  amidst  their  vicissitudes.  Her  history  is  theirs, 
and  at  the  same  time  not  theirs,  and  unless  that  distinction  between 
her  and  them,  and  yet  that  identity  between  her  and  them,  be  kept 
in  view,  her  history  cannot  be  read  aright. 

When  the  church  entered  upon ' her  divine  mission  she  found 


the  individual  under  the  Roman  jurisdiction  without  a recognized 
title  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  The  state  was 
supreme  master  and  the  subject  abject  slave.  Upon  this  slave  she 
placed  her  divine  impress  and  he  became  of  eternal  value,  the  equal 
of  imperial  Caesar  himself.  Under  the  breath  of  this  divine  inspira- 
tion Roman  institutions  crumbled  away  and  the  old  social  fabric 
melted  into  thin  air.  After  Rome  had  sunk  into  the  void  of  the  past, 
the  barbaric  blood  of  the  untamed  north  surged  down  in  stormy  fury 
against  the  rock  of  Peter.  For  centuries  the  barbarian  hordes  out- 
side of  the  limits  of  the  Roman  empire  had  known  no  law;  the 
caprice  of  license  had  been  the  dominant  force  of  their  souls.  The 
restraint  of  law  they  would  not  brook,  and  the  sweet  fruits  of  liberty, 
slaves  of  their  passions  as  they  were,  they  had  never  tasted.  If 
Rome  had  represented  the  despotism  of  law,  barbarism  expressed 
the  tyranny  of  license.  Into  the  fiery  souls  of  these  restless  nomads 
the  church  breathed  her  inspiring  vigor,  bent  their  stubborn  pride 
to  the  virtue  of  obedience,  subdued  their  wild  passions  to  the  enob- 
ling  constraint  of  her  divine  law,  and  made  them  free  men,  in  so  far 
as  the  imperfect  conditions  of  the  times  suffered  the  action  of  the 
divine  principle. 

It  is  in  this  that  we  may  find  the  keynote  to  the  temporal  mis- 
sion of  the  church,  and  it  is  only  in  this  light  that  the  history  of  the 
Dark  Ages  has  any  meaning.  Herein  was  the  period  which  saw  the 
momentous  struggle  between  divine  law  and  brute  license,  and  our 
Christian  civilization  is  the  present  witness  to  the  happy  issue. 
Nowhere  has  that  blessed  result  been  so  fully  realized  as  in  America, 
and  that  sovereign  independence  of  the  individual,  for  which  the 
Catholic  Church  so  long  and  tirelessly  struggled  in  those  distant 
Dark  Ages,  is  our  priceless  inheritance  in  a free  land  wdiich  owes  its 
discovery  to  the  genius  of  the  Catholic  Columbus,  aided  by  the 
Catholic  queen,  Isabella,  acting  under  the  advice  of  the  Catholic 
priest,  Juan  Perez.  If  these  facts,  interpreted  in  their  true  spirit, 
be  brought  home  to  the  minds  of  our  non-Catholic  fellow-country- 
men, can  they  fail  of  their  desired  effect?  What  a rich  field,  and 
fraught  with  what  great  results,  has  not  the  Catholic  writer  in  the 
domain  of  historical  literature  ! He  has  but  to  narrate  the  truth  in 
the  spirit  of  truth  to  make  the  American  nation  Catholic. 

Although  we  have  every  reason  to  hope  for  the  future  and  to 
congratulate  ourselves  upon  the  great  opportunities  that  surround 
us  in  a land  where  the  traditional  prejudices  of  the  old  world  have 
been  thrown  aside,  still  we  ought  not  to  be  blind  to  the  difficulties 
and  dangers  which  encompass  us.  In  the  reaction  of  the  human 
mind  of  this  century  from  the  impositions  of  a false  Christianity, 
the  rebound  is  apt  to  be  so  great  as  to  carry  it  to  the  other  extreme. 
Such  a condition  now  actually  confronts  us.  The  trend  of  modem 
literature  is  in  the  direction  of  naturalism,  and  all  belief  in  the 
supernatural  is  being  fast  discarded.  We  are  told,  frankly  enough, 
that  Christianity  is  in  its  decadence,  that  there  is  now  going  on 
within  the  bosom  of  society  a process  of  evolution  from  that  phase 
of  human  existence,  through  which  Christianity  has  been  the  factor 
of  man’s  development,  to  a higher  phase  wherein  Christianity  can 
no  longer  succor  him.  The  literature  of  the  day  is  replete  with  this 
notion.  It  abounds  in  the  scientific  world,  it  reechoes  daily  in  the 
newspaper,  and  has  become  a special  function  of  the  modern  novel. 
Its  effects  are,  of  course,  widespread,  and  its  contagion  unavoidable. 
School  children  even  sepe  it  in  through  their  class  books,  and  are 
incipient  believers  in  its  dogmas  before  they  have  come  to  realize 
what  it  means.  This  apotheosis  of  naturalism  prevails  not  only  in 
the  scientific  and  philosophical  world,  but  has  taken  hold  of  the 
public  mind.  The  masses  are  fast  becoming  its  disciples.  Its 
system  of  propagandism  is  contiguous  with  the  limits  of  civiliza- 
tion. How  is  this  tide  of  irreligion  to  be  stemmed  except  by  a 
counteracting  influence  through  the  same  channels  ? Where  is  the 
citadel  of  the  supernatural  except  in  Catholicity,  and  who  but  the 
Catholic  writer  has  command  of  its  resources  ? In  the  province  of 
popular  literature,  where  naturalism  is  having  its  most  pernicious 
effect,  he  must  bring  to  bear  the  healthful  influence  of  that  higher 
truth  of  which  he  alone  can  be  the  popular  expounder.  It  need  not 
be  formally  inculcated;  it  need  never  be  directly  mentioned,  but  it 
must  be  the  vivifying  principle  of  his  work,  the  source  of  its  warmth 
and  its  light,  to  be  seen  only  in  its  effects — in  the  blossom  and  odor 
of  the  flower.  In  the  magazine,  in  the  daily  press,  in  the  essay,  in 
the  story,  in  the  novel,  in  whatever  form  the  printed  word  takes, 
his  hand  should  be  at  work  directing  and  preparing  the  public  mind 
for  the  reception  of  Catholic  truth  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word. 
Through  the  might}-  agency  of  the  modern  press  the  printed  -word 
has  become  a power  greater  than  armies;  it  reaches  the  millions, 
and  bears  the  seeds  of  life  or  death  on  its  wings  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth;  it  is  a force  to  make  or  unmake  empires;  and  human 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


67 


society,  pliant  to  its  tremendous  pressure,  bends  like  the  crust  of 
the  earth  heaved  upward  by  volcanic  forces  below.  This  vast  power 
is  fast  becoming  the  instrument  of  naturalism,  which  proclaims  that 
man  is  all-sufficient  unto  himself  and  needs  no  God  to  save  him. 
If  falsehood  may  be  propagated  by  means  of  the  press,  may  not  truth 
employ  the  same  potent  agency  ? Unless  Catholics  make  use  of  the 
means  at  hand  to  advocate  the  truth  of  their  cause,  the  field  will 
soon  be  entirely  occupied  by  the  enemy,  who  already  have  on  their 
side  that  natural  revolt  of  the  mind  against  the  irrational  doctrines 
of  the  so-called  Reformation.  It  is  not  sufficient  simply  to  declare 
the  truth;  men  must  be  induced  to  look  at  it.  The  faces  of  those 
who  have  abandoned  Christianity  are  averted;  they  have  turned 
their  backs  upon  the  supernatural  and  refuse  to  consider  its  claims 
at  all.  Their  attention,  therefore,  must  first  be  gained,  their  interest 
aroused,  and  their  intelligent  consideration  awakened.  There  is  but 
one  way  to  accomplish  this:  The  Catholic  writer  must  descend  into 
the  popular  arena.  He  must  embellish  his  work  with  all  that  ap- 
peals to  the  popular  fancy.  Truth  in  itself  is  beautiful  to  him  who 
sees  it;  but  to  closed  eyes  it  is  hidden.  The  difficulty  lies  in 
making  men  so  much  as  glance  at  it.  There  is  little  doubt  that 
they  will  become  ravished  with  its  beauty  when  they  do  apprehend 
it,  but  its  light  must  first  be  brought  to  their  intellectual  vision. 
To  accomplish  this  successfully  is  no  small  task  in  an  age  like  ours, 
when  the  intervening  phantoms  of  a thousand  forms  of  error  play 
unceasingly  before  the  public  imagination,  and  especially  when  men 
entertain  a prejudice  against  Catholic  truth  through  the  groundless 
assumption  of  its  falsehood.  The  question  with  the  Catholic  writer 
is  how  to  remove  that  prejudice  and  lay  the  vain  ghosts  of  error 
that  haunt  men’s  minds. 

Art  is  the  outward  expression  of  the  beautiful ; beauty  is  the 
splendor  of  truth.  It  is  through  an  artistic  expression  that  this 
splendor  is  to  be  made  visible  to  the  minds  of  men.  Unless  he  who 
knows  the  truth  can  give  expression  to  its  beauty,  he  may  indeed 
ravish  his  own  soul  with  its  sweetness,  but  like  the  light  of  a hidden 
sun  it  is  veiled  from  the  sight  of  his  fellow-men.  The  writer  who 
has  truth  to  tell  must  be  an  artist  if  he  wishes  to  make  the  splendor 
of  that  truth  visible  to  those  whom  he  addresses;  the  diamond  must 
be  so  cut  and  polished  that  not  a facet  shall  fail  to  flash  its  fire.  As 
in  sculpture  beauty  of  form  in  the  chiselled  marble  is  the  vehicle  of 
the  artist’s  idea,  and  in  painting  all  the  subtle  skill  of  coloring  is 
used  to  body  forth  his  conception,  so  in  writing  the  artistic  use  of 
words,  their  lights  and  shadows,  the  varying  hues  of  metaphor,  the 
music  and  rhythm  of  their  setting,  should  be  the  glowing  medium 
of  the  splendor  of  truth.  The  successful  writer  must  be  an  artist  in 
the  full  sense  of  the  word,  a master  in  the  art  of  fitting  aptest  words 
to  things.  He  must  both  model  and  paint  in  words,  using  them 
with  the  same  skill  and  discrimination  as  the  sculptor  does  his 
chisel  and  the  painter  the  colors  on  his  palette.  But  his  art  must 
be  organic;  it  must  be  the  vital  expression  of  his  thought,  not  rhe- 
torical stucco  plastered  over  fatal  defects  of  construction;  it  must  be 
the  blushing  hue  of  the  rose,  not  the  hectic  flush  of  disease,  nor  the 
bedizened  flare  of  vanity.  If  I may  be  permitted  the  criticism,  I 
would  say,  that  it  is  in  this  respect  that  Catholic  American  literature 
is  lacking.  It  has  failed  to  show  adequately  that  splendor  of  the 
truth  of  which  it  is  in  possession.  The  extenuating  circumstances, 
already  enumerated  in  the  beginning  of  this  paper,  satisfactorily 
account  for  this;  the  distracting  cares  of  a pioneer  career,  the  want 
of  an  audience,  the  lack  of  a stimulus,  and  above  all,  the  attitude  of 
self-defence  into  which  the  church  has  been  forced  by  an  aggressive 
prejudice,  have  led  rather  to  the  development  of  the  virtues  of  self- 
repression than  a habit  of  expression. 

But  the  times  have  changed;  we  are  no  longer  required  to  retire 
to  the  inner  sanctuary  of  the  faith  against  the  bitter  attacks  of  an 
aggressive  foe;  our  present  conditions  warrant  us  in  coming  forward 
and  manifesting  ourselves,  declaring  the  truth  that  is  in  us,  and 
revealing  the  beauty  of  the  face  of  the  Son  of  Man.  How  fecund  is 
the  church,  the  divine  mother  of  truth,  in  the  development  of  art  is 
written  in  unmistakable  characters  over  the  broad  face  of  the  civil- 
ized world.  It  was  her  fostering  care  that  saved  to  the  modern 
world  the  art  of  the  ancients;  and  the  development  and  perfection  of 
Christian  art,  reflecting  the  splendor  ot  the  truth  that  ever  glows  in 
her  divine  bosom,  was  due  to  the  inspiration  that  breathed  from  her 
holy  presence.  Now,  as  in  the  days  of  Dante  and  Petrarch,  of 
Raphael  and  Angelo,  her  perennial  beauty  shines  undiminished. 

Art  is  true  art  when  art  to  God  is  true, 

And  only  then. 

Who  in  these  days  but  the  Catholic  Church  teaches  God  to  the. 
nations  ? Who  but  she  treasures  the  truths  of  eternal  salvation  to 


dispense  to  mankind?  If,  then,  she  be  the  custodian  of  the  highest 
truth,  who  but  she  is  the  source  of  the  sublimest  beauty  and  the 
noblest  art  ? 

What  rich  promise  does  not  the  future  hold  for  Catholic  Amer- 
ican literature,  and  how  great  the  dignity  of  the  Catholic  writer’s 
mission  ! Upon  him  devolves  the  sublime  task  of  demonstrating 
that  “ God  is  as  essential  to  a people  as  liberty,”  and  that  a volun- 
tary obedience  to  the  divine  law  is  the  price  of  freedom.  In  his 
hands  alone  lies  the  defence  of  revelation,  for  the  warring  sects  are 
fast  yielding  to  the  disintegrating  shocks  of  agnosticism.  He  alone 
is  henceforth  to  be  the  champion  of  human  reason,  the  vindicator 
of  its  dignity  in  expounding  the  natural  limits  of  its  functions.  His 
the  duty  of  making  history  speak  truth  again.  Next  to  that  of  the 
priestly  office,  his  the  glorious  mission  of  once  more  making  the 
divine  beauty  visible  to  men.  Nor  need  he  be  timid  in  entering 
upon  his  labors.  Let  him  be  bold,  let  him  be  persistent  in  his  insist- 
ance  of  the  truth  he  proclaims.  He  has  nothing  to  fear  and  all  to 
gain.  True  to  his  Catholic  principles,  true  to  his  American  instincts, 
he  cannot  go  amiss;  fearless  in  proclaiming  those  principles,  staunch 
in  his  democratic  faith,  in  this  providential  land,  where  all  equally 
enjoy  a fair  field,  his  triumph  is  assured.  The  times  are  indeed 
changed,  but  for  the  better;  the  long  night,  which  for  three  centuries 
has  hung  over  us,  is  lifting  its  blanket  of  daikness,  and  the  dawn 
draws  near,  for 

We  hear 

A trumpet  in  the  distance  pealing  news 
Of  better,  and  Hope,  a poising  eagle,  bums 
Above  the  unrisen  morrow 

(Long-continued  applause.) 

TEMPERANCE. 

NINTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  JOHN  II.  CAMPBELL,  OF  PHILADELHIA. 

There  is  no  other  subject,  excepting  that  of  education,  which 
affects  so  vitally  the  present  and  future  welfare  of  the  Catholics  of 
the  United  States.  ‘‘There  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt,”  says  the 
last  Baltimore  council,  ‘ ‘ that  the  abuse  of  intoxicating  drinks  is  to 
be  reckoned  among  the  most  deplorable  evils  of  this  country.  This 
excess  is  an  unceasing  stimulant  to  vice,  and  a fruitful  source  ot 
misery;  vast  numbers  of  men  and  entire  families  are  plunged  into 
hopeless  ruin,  and  multitudes  of  souls  are  by  it  dragged  headlong 
into  eternal  perdition.  Now  because  the  ravages  of  this  vice  extend 
not  a little  among  Catholics,  non-Catholics  are  much  scandalized, 
and  a great  obstacle  is  set  up  against  the  spread  of  the  true  religion. 
Hence  it  behooves  all  Christians  to  be  filled  with  zeal  against  this  vice, 
and  for  the  love  of  God,  and  of  country,  to  endeavor  to  root  out  this 
pestilent  evil.” 

These  words  of  warning  are  constantly  ringing  in  our  ears. 
Daily  we  are  reminded  of  them  by  the  numerous  cases  of  crime,  and 
misery,  and  degradation  reported  in  the  columns  of  the  press.  Our 
hearts  sicken  at  the  pictures  presented  to  us,  whether  it  be  of  a 
criminal  going  to  the  gallows, of  a prison  filled  with  victims  of  drink, 
of  an  orphan  asylum  crowded  with  the  children  of  intemperate  par- 
ents, or  of  a motley  crowd  of  applicants  for  liquor  licenses.  We 
cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  giganticevil  in  our  midst. 

In  the  face  of  the  evils  deplored  by  the  fathers  of  the  Baltimore 
council,  it  is  eminently  proper  for  this  congress  to  consider  the  sub- 
ject of  “ temperance  ’’—not  in  a slighting  or  cursory  manner,  but 
calmly  and  deliberately,  with  a view  to  taking  some  action  which 
will  arouse  our  people  to  the  necessity  of  doing  their  full  share  in  the 
battle  against  intemperance,  which  is  now  going  on  in  the  United 
States. 

One  of  the  things  which  excite  the  wonder  of  the  men  and 
women  enlisted  in  the  ranks  of  the  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union, 
is  the  indifference  with  which  the  temperance  question  is  regarded. 
Families  are  broken  up,  homes  are  destroyed,  bright  intellects  are 
degraded,  scandal  runs  riot  with  our  good  name,  and  souls  are  lost 
to  the  church,  and  yet  there  are  thousands  of  worthy  people  who 
scarcely  give  a thought  to  the  causes  of  this  havoc — who  actually 
regard  a ‘ ‘ temperance  man  ” as  a fanatic.  It  makes  us  marvel 
at  the  constitution  of  human  nature.  But  there  are  hopeful 
signs  of  a general  awakening.  The  statesman  is  beginning  to  see 
that  sober  men  make  good  citizens ; the  politician  is  beginning 
to  have  some  respect  for  a question  that  can  enlist  the  services 
of  an  army  of  voters  ; the  teacher  is  beginning  to  notice  that  edu- 
cation is  thrown  away  upon  the  youth  who  indulges  in  drink  ; 
the  legislator  is  beginning  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  passage 


68 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


of  laws  restricting  the  liquor  traffic  ; and  the  churchman  is  begin- 
ning to  note  that  his  work  is  half  done  when  his  congregation  is 
temperate.  These  are  hopeful  signs  indeed,  and  presage  good  for 
the  future  of  the  country  And  shall  we  Catholic  laymen  not 
take  our  stand  with  our  fellow-citizens?  Shall  we  remain  pas- 
sive in  the  good  work  ? Shall  we  sit  idle,  when  others  are  try- 
ing to  stem  the  tide  of  intemperance  which  threatens  to  engulf  our 
fair  land?  We  would  be  recreant  to  our  duty  if  we  failed  to 
lift  up  our  voices  in  favor  of  taking  vigorous  action  in  aid  of  the 
temperance  cause.  Gentlemen,  we  cannot  afford  to  remain  silent. 

In  discussing  the  best  methods  of  action,  it  might  be  well 
to  take  a glance  at  the  various  forms  of  temperance  agitation, 
which  have  been  recently  tried  in  the  United  States,  so  that  after 
considering  them  in  the  light  of  comparison,  the  one  with  the 
other,  we  may  be  enabled  to  form  our  judgment  as  to  what  course 
we  shall  pursue.  (I  desire  to  state  right  here,  that  the  views 
upon  prohibition  and  local  option  expressed  in  this  paper,  are  my 
own  individual  views,  and  that  many  Catholics  disagree  with  me.) 

First  of  all,  the  prohibition  movement  arrests  our  attention, 
not  only  on  account  of  its  great  prominence,  but  because  it  is 
claimed  by  its  adherents  to  be  the  panacea  for  all  the  evils  of 
which  we  complain.  Prohibition  under  various  forms  has  been 
tried  in  several  sections  of  the  country,  and  is  at  present  adopted 
by  law  in  Maine,  Kansas,  Iowa,  and  the  two  Dakotas.  Attempts 
to  engraft  it  in  the  constitution  of  the  other  states,  have  of  late 
been  disastrous  failures.  Its  friends  claim  that  it  accomplishes 
its  ends  ; its  opponents  meet  this  assertion  with  doubts  and  denials. 
To  me  it  seems  that  the  public  sentiment  of  the  country  is  against 
it,  and  that  as  a remedy  for  the  evils  of  intemperance,  it  has  had 
its  day.  Even  in  Iowa  last  Tuesday,  signs  of  a reaction  were 
distinctly  visible,  and  it  is  a mere  question  of  time,  in  my  judg- 
ment, when  prohibition  will  be  relegated  to  the  domain  of  dead 
issues.  We  must  not  forget,  however,  that  its  advocates  are  as  a 
body  sincere.  We  must  give  them  credit  for  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose and  a thorough  belief  in  their  views,  and  we  must  be 
thankful  to  them  for  arousing  a public  sentiment  in  favor  of  tem- 
perance reform.  As  a matter  of  public  policy,  they  have  made  a 
mistake  in  running  counter  to  the  instincts  of  believers  in  a repub- 
lican form  of  government,  and  have  infringed  upon  the  personal  lib- 
erty of  the  citizen,  in  a matter  of  personal  appetite,  which  cannot  be 
controlled  by  legislative  edicts.  The  people  have  naturally  resented 
such  interference,  and  have  so  expressed  themselves  at  the  polls. 

Prohibition  is  the  logical  outcome  of  a mistaken  idea  of  paternal 
government,  which  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions. 

Next  of  all  comes  the  local  option  movement,  which  might  be 
designated  as  prohibition  in  spots.  It  is  argued  that  though  it  may 
be  impossible  to  enforce  a general  law  on  account  of  the  mixed  char- 
acter of  our  population,  yet  in  rural  communities  and  small  towns 
and  villages  public  sentiment  will  support  an  attempt  to  prohibit  by 
law  the  sale  of  liquor.  This  may  be  true  of  some  sections.  Even 
blue  laws  have  been  enforced  in  New  England,  and  Mormonism  still 
exists  in  Utah,  but  the  Catholics  and  others  of  the  minority  in  New 
England  could  not  be  persuaded  that  the  blue  laws  were  just,  any 
more  than  the  Christian  residents  of  Utah  can  be  convinced  that 
polygamy  is  the  best  condition  of  affairs.  In  considering  the  ques- 
tion of  local  option,  we  frequently  overlook  the  rights  of  the  minority 
and  take  a selfish  view  of  temperance  reform.  It  seems  to  me  that 
local  option  laws  are  but  the  treatment  of  diseased  spots,  which  are 
pruned  away  only  to  cause  fresh  attacks  in  other  places,  forgetting 
that  the  seat  of  the  disease  has  not  been  attacked.  The  pi  inciples 
involved  in  local  option  are  the  same  as  those  underhung  prohibi- 
tion, their  application  being  limited  to  a narrower  field  of  action. 
The  same  objections  apply  to  them  as  to  the  principles  of  prohibition. 

The  third  prominent  form  of  temperance  agitation  is  high  license, 
and  in  this  the  interference  with  the  personal  liberty  of  the  citizen  is 
avoided  and  an  endeavor  is  made  to  throw  some  wholesome  restric- 
tions around  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors.  It  is  under  trial  in 
Minnesota,  Pennsylvania,  and  other  states,  and  much  discussion  as  to 
its  success  or  non-success  is  taking  place.  At  first  the  mere  increase 
in  the  amount  paid  for  a liquor  license  was  supposed  to  be  all  that 
was  necessary  to  accomplish  the  desired  diminution  of  the  liquor 
traffic,  but  thinking  men  have  practically  abandoned  this  position, 
after  the  experience  of  Chicago  and  other  places.  At  present  the 
high  price  of  the  license  is  supplemented  by  restrictive  features  of 
various  kinds,  looking  to  a constant  and  efficient  regulation  of  the 
traffic,  so  that  the  Christian  Sunday  will  not  be  desecrated,  minors 
and  intemperate  persons  shall  not  be  furnished  with  liquors,  and  the 
grant  of  the  license  shall  depend  upon  the  good  character  of  the 
applicant.  Restrictive  license  would  be  a better  term  to  use,  but  the 


popular  mind  has  settled  upon  the  name,  and  high  license  has 
become  almost  a technical  term.  There  is  undoubtedly  much  merit 
in  high  license  enactments,  but  as  yet  they  are  experimental.  The 
extraordinarily  successful  result  achieved  in  Philadelphia  and  other 
places,  argues  strongly  in  their  favor,  but  it  will  take  some  years  yet 
to  fully  determine  their  value.  When  we  find  such  a noted  temper- 
ance leader  as  Archbishop  Ireland  going  beyond  them,  we  naturally 
suspend  judgment  as  to  their  positive  success  as  a settlement  of  the 
temperance  question. 

The  fourth  prominent  form  of  temperance  agitation,  and  the 
one  about  which  Catholics  know  the  most,  is  moral  suasion.  We 
are  all  familiar  with  the  work  of  the  great  apostle  of  temperance, 
Father  Mathew.  The  story  of  millions  induced  to  take  the  total 
abstinence  pledge  by  the  pleadings  of  that  noble  priest,  reads  almost 
like  a fairy  tale.  The  account  of  his  great  work  fills  us  with  enthu- 
siasm, and  when  we  consider  the  fact  that  he  achieved  such  marvel- 
lous results  without  the  aid  of  prohibition,  local  option,  high  license, 
or  any  other  form  of  legislation,  it  leads  us  at  first  blush  to  pro- 
nounce in  favor  of  moral  suasion  as  the  true  remedy  for  the  evils  of 
intemperance.  His  work  still  lives.  It  is  the  spirit  which  has  ani- 
mated ever}"  Catholic  temperance  man  since  he  first  signed  the 
pledge.  It  is  the  foundation  stone  of  the  present  Catholic  total 
abstinence  movement.  It  will  continue,  as  long  as  drunkards  need 
to  be  saved  and  men  need  to  be  warned  against  the  evils  of  drink, 
to  inspire  earnest  temperance  advocates  to  follow  his  example.  But 
where  are  the  millions  who  took  the  pledge  from  him?  Where  is 
the  reformation  in  the  drinking  habits  of  his  converts?  Where  are 
the  numerous  societies  which  sprung  into  existence  as  if  by  magic  at 
the  sound  of  his  voice  ? Church  councils  in  America  and  Ireland 
still  deplore  the  existence  of  intemperance  as  a gigantic  evil.  The 
Holy  Father  himself  has  but  recently  called  attention  to  the 
“destructive  vice.”  The  children  have  not  followed  in  the  footsteps 
of  their  fathers,  and  even  the  fathers  themselves  forget  to  remain 
examples  of  sobriety  to  their  children.  Moral  suasion  seems  to  be 
a partial  failure,  like  all  the  other  forms  of  temperance  agitation 
thus  far  tried. 

It  is  rather  an  unsatisfactory  glance  which  we  have  taken.  We 
know  that  a mighty  evil  exists.  We  have  seen  the  trial  of  various 
attempts  to  eradicate  it,  and  we  have  noted,  with  disappointment, 
the  results.  Is  not,  therefore,  the  prospect  for  temperance  reform 
discouraging?  If  no  remedy  yet  proposed  has  fully  accomplished 
its  purpose,  shall  we  not  despair  of  final  success  ? Can  the  delegates 
to  this  congress  safely  commit  themselves  to  any  pronouncement  or 
take  any  action  upon  the  temperance  question  as  it  now  stands? 
The  unthinking  man  might  say  no,  but  the  thinking  man  will 
promptly  say  yes.  Especially  will  the  Catholic,  who  has  repeatedly 
seen  the  church  grapple  with  evil,  and  successfully  combat  it,  declare 
that  intemperance  must  be  conquered  by  the  church,  just  as  every 
other  form  of  vice  will  be  conquered.  The  power  of  religion  must 
be  invoked  to  aid  the  efforts  of  men,  and  as  believers  in  the  true 
faith,  we  must  allow7  no  idea  to  enter  our  minds  that  because  the 
remedies  that  have  been  tried  have  not  been  successful  it  is  useless 
to  try  others. 

Let  us  therefore  bend  our  efforts  to  discover  a method  by  which 
Catholics  can  lend  their  aid  to  the  cause  of  temperance  reform.  This 
great  centennial  celebration  must  not  go  by  without  some  declaration 
to  the  country  that  the  Catholic  laity  are  alive  to  the  dangers  of  intem- 
perance and  have  resolved  to  do  their  full  share  against  the  common 
enemy  of  all  mankind.  We  have  seen  how  the  fathers  of  the  church, 
when  last  assembled  in  plenary  council,  have  spoken  with  no 
uncertain  voice.  They  have  invoked  a blessing  “ upon  the  cause  of 
temperance  and  upon  all  who  are  laboring  for  its  advancement  in  a 
true  Christian  spirit.”  Let  us  obtain  that  blessing  by  performing 
our  share  of  the  labor. 

First  of  all,  let  us  stamp  our  disapproval  upon  the  vice  of  intem- 
perance. Says  the  Holy  Father  in  his  brief  to  Most  Rev.  Arch- 
bishop Ireland,  dated  the  27th  of  March,  I887:  “ Nor  can  we  suf- 
ficiently praise  the  prelates  of  the  United  States,  who  recently  in  the 
plenary  council  of  Baltimore  with  weightiest  words  condemned  this 
abuse,  declaring  it  to  be  a perpetual  incentive  to  sin  and  a fruitful 
root  of  all  evils,  plunging  the  families  of  the  intemperate  into  direst 
ruin,  and  dragging  numberless  souls  down  to  everlasting  perdition; 
declaring  moreover  that  the  faithful  who  yield  to  this  vice  of  intem- 
perance become  thereby  a scandal  to  non-Catholics  and  a great  hin- 
drance to  the  propagation  of  the  true  religion.”  Let  us  declare  that 
drunkenness  among  Catholics  should  be  considered  as  a disgrace  to 
their  manhood,  and  that  he  who  commits  the  sin  of  intemperance 
shall  be  held  in  reprobation  by  his  fellow-men.  Once  throw  the 
weight  of  public  opinion  against  the  man  who  over-indulges  in  drink, 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


69 


whether  it  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  social  life,  the  pleasures  of  friendly 
associations,  the  celebrations  of  joyful  occasions,  or  the  excitements 
of  business  activity,  and  a big  step  forward  is  made  towards  reducing 
the  evils  of  drink. 

Secondly.  Let  us  commend  the  work  of  the  Catholic  Total 
Abstinence  Union,  and  urge  upon  all  Catholics  to  assist  it.  “And 
above  all,’’  says  the  Holy  Father,  “we  have  rejoiced  to  learn  with 
what  energy  and  zeal,  by  means  of  various  excellent  associations, 
and  especially  through  the  Catholic  total  abstinence  union,  you 
combat  the  destructive  vice  of  intemperance.  Hence,”  continues 
he,  ‘ ‘ we  esteem  worthy  of  all  commendation  the  noble  resolve  of 
your  pious  associations,  by  which  they  pledge  themselves  to  abstain 
totally  from  every  kind  of  intoxicating  drink.  Nor  can  it  be 
doubted  that  this  determination  is  the  proper  and  the  truly  efficacious 
remedy  for  this  very  great  evil,  and  that  so  much  the  more  strongly 
will  all  be  induced  to  put  this  bridle  upon  appetite,  by  how  much 
greater  are  the  dignity  and  influence  of  those  who  give  the 
example.” 

Presuming  as  we  do,  to  speak  in  a certain  sense  for  the  Catho- 
lic laity  of  our  country,  the  greater  the  dignity  and  influence  of 
our  deliberations,  the  more  need  for  an  emphatic  endorsement  of  the 
work  of  that  union,  which  is  so  highly  commended  by  the  Holy 
Father  himself. 

Thirdly.  Let  us  pronounce  in  favor  of  the  passage  and  enforce- 
ment of  laws,  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquors  to  minors  and  intem- 
perate persons.  The  Baltimore  council  in  warning  saloon  keepers  of 
the  dangers  attached  to  their  business,  says,  “ They  must  not  sell 
drink  to  minors,  that  is  to  say,  to  those  who  have  not  come  of  age; 
nor  to  those  who  they  foresee  will  abuse  it.”  We  can  certainly,  as 
citizens,  do  our  share  in  enforcing  this  decree,  by  recommending 
Catholics  to  vote  for  laws  which  will  put  it  into  effect.  The  evils 
of  selling  drink  to  children  are  patent  to  all.  We  cannot  complain 
if  our  children  become  drunkards,  if  they  are  permitted,  by  our 
negligence,  to  obtain  liquor  at  the  saloon,  under  authority  of  law. 
We  have  been  too  careless  in  this  regard.  In  the  great  cities  of  the 
country  we  are  losing  thousands  of  our  youth,  through  the  disre- 
gard of  our  duty  as  citizens.  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  Boston,  and 
some  others  have  inaugurated  a reform  in  the  matter  of  selling 
liquors  to  minors.  Let  their  example  shame  some  of  their  sisters 
to  do  likewise,  and  let  us  throw  the  weight  of  our  influence  to 
advise  Catholics  throughout  the  country  to  vote  for  laws  against 
the  sale  of  liquor  to  minors,  and  I may  add,  to  drunkards  also. 

Fourthly.  Let  us  strongly  urge  the  passage  and  enforcement  of 
laws  forbidding  the  opening  of  saloons  on  Sunday.  The  Baltimore 
council  has  decreed  that  “ Catholics  engaged  in  the  sale  of  intoxicat- 
ing drinks”  must  keep  their  saloons  closed  on  Sunday.  The  pas- 
toral letter  of  the  archbishops  and  bishops  uses  the  following  strong 
language: 

“ There  is  one  way  of  profaning  the  Lord’s  day  which  is  so 
prolific  of  evil  results  that  we  consider  it  our  duty  to  utter  against 
it  a special  condemnation.  This  is  the.  practice  of  selling  beer  or 
other  liquors  on  Sunday,  or  of  frequenting  places  where  they  are 
sold.  This  practice  tends  more  than  any  other  to  turn  the  day  of 
the  Lord  into  a day  of  dissipation — to  use  it  as  an  occasion  for  breed- 
ing intemperance.  While  we  hope  that  Sunday  laws  on  this  point 
will  not  be  relaxed,  but  even  more  rigidly  enforced,  we  implore  all 
Catholics,  for  the  love  of  God  and  of  country,  never  to  take  part  in 
such  Sunday  traffic,  nor  to  patronize  or  countenance  it.  And  we 
not  only  direct  the  attention  of  all  pastors  to  the  repression  of  this 
abuse,  but  we  also  call  upon  them  to  induce  all  of  their  flocks  that 
may  be  engaged  in  the  sale  of  liquors  to  abandon  as  soon  as  they 
can  the  dangerous  traffic,  and  to  embrace  a more  becoming  way  of 
making  a living.” 

And  in  the  decrees  of  the  council  we  find  the  following  lang- 
uage: “ Catholics  should  generously  renounce  all  recreations  and 

all  kinds  of  business  which  may  interfere  with  keeping  holy  the 
Lord’s  day,  or  which  are  calculated  to  lead  to  the  violation  of  the 
laws  of  God  or  of  Lhe  state.  The  worst,  without  doubt,  is  the  car- 
rying on  of  business  in  bar-rooms  and  saloons  on  Sunday,  a traffic 
by  means  of  which  so  many  and  such  grievous  injuries  are  done  to 
religion  and  society.” 

With  such  words  before  us  we  should  not  hesitate  to  speak  out 
boldly,  recommending  to  our  Catholic  people  to  take  advanced 
ground  in  favor  of  Sunday  observance,  and  to  reinforce  their  opin- 
ions, wherever  necessary,  by  their  ballots. 

With  these  resolves,  we  might  rest  content  for  the  present. 
Perhaps  we  ought  not  to  go  further,  but  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt,  as  faithful  children  of  the  church,  that  we  should  go  that  far. 
Let  us  resolve — 


First.  That  drunkenness  should  be  made  odious. 

Second.  That  the  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  should  be 
practically  encouraged  and  sustained. 

Third.  That  Catholics  should  favor  the  passage  and  enforce- 
ment of  laws  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquors  to  minors  and  intoxi- 
cated persons. 

Fourth.  That  Catholics  should  favor  the  rigid  closing  of 
saloons  upon  Sunday. 

In  these  four  resolves  lie  the  best  solution  of  the  temperance 
question.  With  the  carrying  out  of  them  in  spirit  and  effect  a pub- 
lic sentiment  will  be  created  in  favor  of  temperance  reform  which 
will  minimize  the  evils  of  intemperance.  No  longer  will  the  Cath- 
olic name  be  associated  with  the  scandal  of  drink,  no  longer  will  the 
Holy  Father  and  the  bishops  be  called  upon  to  deplore  “the  destruct- 
ive vice,”  no  longer  will  the  people  despair  of  the  future  of  our 
country.  Throw  the  weight  of  our  Catholic  influence  in  favor  of 
true  temperance  reform,  as  outlined  by  the  action  of  the  church 
authorities,  and  non-Catholics  will  turn  to  us,  as  did  the  Hebrews 
of  Egypt  to  Moses,  to  lead  them  out  of  the  land  of  bondage  and 
into  the  promised  land.  Let  us  not  let  the  Catholic  centennial  go 
by  without  a mighty  effort  to  place  Catholics  far  in  advance  upon 
the  question  of  temperance. 


SUNDAY  OBSERVANCE. 

TENTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  MANLY  TELLO,  OF  CLEVELAND,  O. 

Mr.  President , Gentlemen  of  the  Catholic  American  Lay  Con- 
gress: The  question  of  a proper  Sunday  observance  is  exercising 
the  American  public  mind,  and  there  is  that  variety  of  sentiment 
upon  the  subject  to  be  expected  where  so  many  and  inexact  stand- 
ards of  religious  and  irreligious  thought  prevail.  The  necessity  of 
a day  of  rest  is  universally  accepted.  The  contentions  are  over  the 
moral  obligations  of  Sunday  as  the  established  day  of  rest.  A well 
informed  Catholic  needs  no  general  instruction  as  to  the  essential 
observance  of  the  Sunday.  To  him  it  is  a day  of  special  religious 
obligations  and  of  rest;  so  established  by  his  church.  But  in  deal- 
ing with  the  public  question  of  Sunday  observance,  the  Catholic  has 
to  do  with  the  rights  of  others,  and  has  to  take  into  practical  con- 
sideration the  state  of  American  society  in  which  he  lives.  We 
have  neither  the  duty  nor  the  right  to  establish  a Catholic  Sunday 
in  the  United  States,  but  certainly  the  church  that  created  the  Sunday 
as  a holy-day  is  best  entitled  to  explain  her  reasons  and  object  in  so 
doing,  and  should  at  least  be  permitted  to  expound  her  legislation, 
when  this  Sunday  question  is  debated  from  an  avowedly  Christian 
standpoint.  And  the  assertion  of  this  Catholic  primacy  is  further 
useful,  since  it  bespeaks  from  a reasonable  American  public  respectful 
hearing  for  authoritative  Catholic  expositions  on  the  subject,  those 
expositions  affording  a refuge  from  the  extremes  of  Puritan  and 
free-thinker,  one  of  whom  hates  the  Christian  Sunday,  while  the 
other  would  make  the  Christian  Sunday  hated. 

Yet  Catholic  exposition  in  mere  theory  will  not  altogether  avail, 
example  holding  faster  than  precept.  Catholic  action  on  the  Sun- 
day is  what  will  most  tell;  and  particularly  our  public  acts,  outside 
the  walls  of  our  churches.  So  it  becomes  the  Catholic  American 
body  to  guard  lest  it  give  scandal  by  indulging  in  things  even  per- 
missible, but  which  with  the  prevailing  manners  of  our  country 
prove  offensive.  And  in  kind,  though  not  always  in  degree,  those 
manners  are  to  be  supported.  The  dominant  manners  of  our  country 
are  the  manners  of  Americans,  and  we  are  Americans.  This,  though, 
necessitates  the  frank  statement  that  among  our  coreligionists  there 
are  imported  national  modes  as  yet  unassimilated  to  our  Americanism. 
This  foreignism  exists  also  outside  of  the  Catholic  body.  But, 
within  it,  the  oneness  of  Catholicity  shall  best  avail  to  amalgamate 
those  modes  into  American  character. 

What  is  well  elsewhere  may  not  be  well  here.  The  vital  point 
is  in  the  fact  that  there  is  a distinctive  American  way,  and  a people 
has  the  right  to  its  own  individuality.  Both  creed  and  country  are 
advanced  by  this  oneness.  These  remarks,  appearing  to  discriminate 
between  citizens,  demand  an  explanation  that  plunges  us  at  once 
into  review  of  a condition  that  has  important  bearing  on  the  Sunday 
question.  The  writer  has  a life-long  rooted  aversion  to  using  foreign 
terms,  as  “German”  or  “Irish,”  in  connection  with  American 
citizens.  But,  it  would  be  impossible  to  treat  of  affairs  as  they  are, 
without  borrowing  a terminology  that  so  exists  in  practice  that  it  is 
necesary  to  use  it  to  express  our  meaning.  When  he  mentions 
American  manners  he  means  such  as  are  characteristic  of  Americans, 
whether  native  or  foreign-born,  Catholic  or  sectarian.  But  he  real- 


yo 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS 


izes  that  there  are  those  who  choose  to  remain  distinctively  foreign 
in  our  midst,  and  to  be  so  designated.  And  so  far  as  this  fact 
bears  upon  Sunday  observance,  it  has  to  be  dealt  with  in  this 
paper.  For  instance,  those  who  call  themselves  ‘ ‘ German  ’ ’ and  act 
out  German  manners,  are  not  in  accord  with  the  leading  American 
lines  as  to  Sunday  observance.  The  German  demands  a greater 
license  for  that  day,  and  particularly  in  a direction  that  is  specially 
obnoxious  to  Americans,  viz.,  the  open  beer  garden.  In  this  the 
Catholic  Germans  are  largely  in  line  with  German  sects. 

This  complicates  the  Sunday  question.  It  weakens  our  influ- 
ence in  connection  with  a proper  American  observance  of  the  day. 
For  without  self-praise,  we  can  say  of  Americans  that  they  are 
a thoughtful,  reasonable,  and  indulgent  people,  cosmopolitan,  as 
our  conditions  would  naturally  effect. 

Now  the  average  American,  averse  to  Puritanism,  and  yet  con- 
fronted with  the  German  demand  for  Sunday  license — in  which  he 
would  find  Catholic,  as  well  as  Protestant  and  infidel  German,  agreed — 
would  be  apt,  both  through  racial  and  religious  affinity,  to  prefer  the 
Puritan  over-zeal  to  the  German  looseness;  and,  owing  to  the  Cath- 
olic German  attitude,  he  would  likely  dismiss  the  idea  of  Catho- 
licity as  an  ally  or  guide  to  proper  Sunday  observance. 

The  writer  has  no  desire  to  criticise  the  European  German  in 
his  continental  Sunday  observance;  but  what  may  be  very  suitable 
elsewhere  is  quite  unsuited  here;  a source  both  of  sin  and  scandal. 
In  our  present  American  conditions,  the  open  beer-garden  leads 
to  desecration  of  the  Sunday,  and  is  not  to  be  tolerated.  This  is  a 
universal  feeling  with  Americans,  shared  alike  by  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  whether  originally  of  German,  Irish,  or  other  race. 

Still  more  odious  to  the  American  mind  is  the  open  saloon  on 
Sunday — open  and  yet  concealed.  On  this  subject  the  Catholic 
Church  in  the  United  States  has  spoken  with  no  uncertain  voice. 
We  quote  from  the  pastoral  letter  of  the  fathers  of  the  third  plenary 
council  of  Baltimore:  ‘ ‘ There  is  one  way  of  profaning  the  Lord’s  day, 
which  is  so  prolific  of  evil  results  that  we  consider  it  our  duty  to  utter 
against  it  a special  condemnation.  This  is  the  practice  of  selling 
beer  or  other  liquors  on  Sunday,  or  of  frequenting  places  where  they 
are  sold.  This  practice  tends  more  than  any  other  to  turn  the  day  of 
the  Lord  into  a day  of  dissipation,  to  use  it  as  an  occasion  for  breed- 
ing intemperance.  While  we  hope  that  Sunday  laws  on  this  point 
will  not  be  relaxed,  but  even  more  rigidly  enforced,  we  implore  all 
Catholics,  for  the  love  of  God  and  of  country,  never  to  take  part  in 
such  Sunday  traffic,  nor  to  patronize  or  countenance  it.  And  we 
not  only  direct  the  attention  of  all  pastors  to  the  repression  of  this 
abuse,  but  we  also  call  upon  them  to  induce  all  of  their  flocks  that 
may  be  engaged  in  the  sale  of  liquors  to  abandon  as  soon  as  they 
can  the  dangerous  traffic,  and  to  embrace  a more  becoming  way  or 
making  a living.” 

Can  the  transgressing  saloonist  remain  an  unchid  and  preten- 
tious member  of  the  congregation  ? 

Properly  enforced  civil  laws  could  effectuate  this  plenary  coun- 
cil legislation.  It  is  an  established  principle  of  American  law  that 
the  Sunday  can  be  protected  from  desecration.  It  is  a social  duty 
that  the  state  owes  to  the  body  of  its  citizens  who  are  Christians. 
They  must  be  free  to  an  undisturbed  worship. 

Are  all  the  varied,  honest,  honorable,  and  lucrative  occupations 
of  men  to  be  closed  to  them  by  law  on  Sunday,  and  the  doors  of  the 
saloon  alone  to  be  thrown  wide  open,  for  a traffic  which  not  only 
defies  the  respect  due  the  day,  but  actually  makes  it  privileged  to  a 
debauchery  that  sends  its  signal  damning  effects  into  every  other 
day  of  the  week?  The  tradesman  is  estopped  from  collecting  his  debt 
on  Sunday;  the  open  saloon  should  not  be  permitted  to  forestall 
his  due.  Are  the  Sunday  closing  laws  to  be  mere  decoys  to  the  Sunday 
open  saloon  ? And  are  not  six  days  of  that  traffic  sufficient  to  the 
evil  thereof? 

As  it  stands,  the  day  may  come  when  the  etymologist  will  ingen- 
iously derive  Sunday  from  saloon-day,  the  day  immemorially  devoted 
by  law  to  the  interests  of  the  saloons.  How  does  it  look  to  a rev- 
erential Protestant  to  see  men  and  youth  pass  over  from  the  Catholic 
church  into  the  saloon  — some  of  them  to  spend  the  greater  part  of 
the  rest  of  the  day  there?  Though  the  writer’s  observation,  is  that 
the  young  men  who  form  this  saloon  habit  shortly  abandon  recourse 
to  the  sacraments,  and  soon  after  give  up  the  practice  of  attending 
Mass.  What  is  the  public  appearance  and  what  the  language  of 
too  many  of  these  delinquents  when  they  come  out  of  the  saloon  ? 
Yet  opposite  our  churches,  or  in  their  immediate  neighborhood, 
is  the  location  most  affected  by  these  saloonists.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  Protestants  should  twit  us  with  these  open  derelictions  ? That 
they  point  at  this  offending  and  tell  us  to  look  at  our  ‘ ‘ Irish 
Catholics,”  and  how  they  keep  their  Sunday  ? 


Truly  we  could  point  with  just  pride  to  Catholic  Irish  rever- 
ence for  the  Lord’s  day,  and  Sunday  obligations  earnestly  and  de- 
voutly fulfilled.  But  those  hundreds  of  thousands  are  unseen,  while 
the  evil  work  of  the  miserable  few  is  seen.  The  Catholic  saloonist 
and  his  Catholic  patrons  are  there  to  deface  the  otherwise  edifying 
Sunday  observance.  The  morals  of  the  transgressors  are  injured; 
and  even  the  charitable  and  well  inclined  among  our  separated 
brethren  are  scandalized. 

These,  then,  are  two  leading  features  in  connection  with  Sun- 
day observance,  to  which  the  Catholic  American  body  must  pay 
practical  attention:  ist.  The  German  latitude  in  observing  the  day. 
2d.  The  open  saloon  on  Sunday.  Catholic  public  opinion  must  be 
directed  against  these  obstacles.  And  when  we  are  of  one  mind  and 
one  in  action,  then  we  can  expect  to  mould  American  sentiment  at 
large  to  a correct  idea  of  the  Sunday  and  its  proper  observance, 
removed  alike  from  Puritanism  or  licentiousness. 

It  is  certainly  no  valid  objection  to  say  that  this  would  be  a 
conceding  of  other  nationalities  to  American  feeling  on  the  subject. 
The  American  has  the  highest  right  to  mould  manners  on  this  soil. 
And  if  within  Catholic  lines  there  are  two  ways  to  do  a thing,  and 
one  is  exclusively  American,  for  that  very  reason  that  way  should 
be  universally  adopted.  Yet  the  truth  is,  that  customs  that  are 
perhaps  innocuous  in  other  lands  are  occasions  of  sin  and  of  Sunday 
desecration  in  our  mixed  communities;  and  beer-garden  and  theatre, 
open  on  the  Sunday,  are  of  such  a character  here,  and  to  be  denounced. 

I know  that  it  vexes  to  read  the  unmerited  attacks  made  on  the 
Catholic  body  in  connection  with  Sunday  observance.  False  wit- 
ness is  borne  against  us  from  pulpit  and  press.  The  faults  of  cer- 
tain classes  in  our  body  are  magnified,  and  what  Catholic  authority 
really  teaches  is  suppressed.  There  is  at  times  passing  temptation 
to  retaliate,  but  we  must  be  patient  for  the  general  good.  Especially 
when  we  recall  the  failings  within  our  own  body  on  which  we  have 
dwelt,  and  which  have  served  to  misrepresent  us  even  with  really 
well  inclined  sectarians.  To  retort  on  them  that  great  private 
wrong  may  easily  be  done  by  persons  in  their  own  ranks  who  out- 
wardly observe  the  Sunday  and  denounce  the  publican,  is  not  to 
the  purpose.  What  we  should  seek  is  an  en  rapport  with  the 
Protestant  Christians  who  desire  to  keep  the  Sunday  holy.  We 
cannot  go  over  to  the  Judaic  rigidity  of  the  Puritan  Sabbath; 
but  we  can  bring  the  Protestant  masses  over  to  the  reverent 
moderation  of  the  Catholic  Sunday.  To  effect  this,  though,  we  must 
set  our  faces  sternly  against  the  foreign  license  and  open  saloon 
features  now  so  largely  defended  or  practised  by  Catholic  adherents. 
The  issue  is  of  the  utmost  gravity  and  calls  for  Catholic  united 
action. 

What  a dilemma  for  the  Catholic  workingman  to  fulfil  the  Mass 
obligation,  were  not  the  Sunday  made  a day  of  abstinence  from 
labor!  It  is  for  us, 'then,  to  well  guard  the  sanctity  of  the  Sunday,  while 
preserving  it  further,  in  Christian  charity,  to  the  poor  man,  not 
only  as  a day  of  special  worship,  but  of  rest  and  proper  recreation. 

Open  gardens  or  parks,  sacred  concerts,  open  museums  of  art, 
open  libraries— these  all  are  morally  healthful,  permissible  for  the 
Sunday,  the  one  only  day  of  the  week  that  the  laborer  can  call  his 
own.  The  Catholic  is  obliged  to  his  Mass.  That  sweet  and  strength- 
ening obligation  fulfilled,  the  writer  believes  that  in  many  cases  the 
highest  act  of  worship  that  could  be  evoked  would  arise  outside  ot 
the  sanctuary  itself,  under  God’s  sky,  out  in  the  woods,  amid  the 
green  fields  — scenes  of  nature  replete  with  God’s  handiwork,  and 
debarred  to  his  humble  toilers  except  on  that  sacred  first  day  of  the 
week.  Catholic  societies  should  never  make  it  a day  for  useless  public 
demonstration,  and  when  they  do  march  in  a body  with  music,  to 
corner-stone  laying,  or  for  other  unobjectionable  purpose,  care  should 
be  taken  not  to  disturb  non-Catholic  services. 

I advocate,  then,  that  Catholics,  despite  rebuff  and  injustice, 
overlooking  zealotry,  seek  alliance  with  Protestant  Christians  for 
proper  Sunday  observance  They  are  right  in  the  principle  they 
cling  to,  though  wrong  in  the  application  of  it.  The  infidel  is  alto- 
gether wrong.  Their  misguided  zeal  could  work  us  less  harm 
than  the  license  that  looks  mainly  to  the  dissipations  of  the  day, 
or  the  disbelief  that  seeks  to  destroy  its  sanctity. 

Were  workers  paid  on  the  Monday,  and  saloons  closed  by  law 
at  6 p.  m.  on  Saturdays,  much  of  the  Sunday  problem  would  be  satis- 
factorily solved.  The  brewery-capitalized  saloons  would  no  longer 
enrich  foreign  syndicates  at  the  expense  of  native  morals. 

There  are  many  other  Christian  issues  in  which  Catholic  and 
Protestant  could  come  together  and  shape  civil  legislation  for  the 
public  weal,  as  in  this  question  of  a proper  observance  of  the 
Sunday.  And  that  we  are  Catholics  demands  from  us  a princely 
courtesy  to  our  opponents;  noblesse  oblige. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


7i 


LABOR  AND  CAPITAL. 

ELEVENTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  WILLIAM  RICHARDS,  OF  WASHING- 
TON, D.  C. 

It  may  well  be  said  that  all  the  burning  questions  of  the  day, 
pertaining  to  labor  and  capital,  the  production  and  distribution  of 
wealth,  and  the  condition  of  the  working  classes,  virtually  consti- 
tute one  great  social  problem.  Our  Holy  Father,  the  Pope,  recently 
declared  that  charity  alone  can  solve  this  problem.  This  is  the 
theme  of  my  discourse. 

I do  not  discuss  the  details  of  labor  organizations,  the  adjustment 
of  capital  and  labor,  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  production, 
or  the  like;  but  I offer  some  historical  illustrations  in  order  to  con- 
trast the  social  condition  of  “former  ages  when,”  as  the  Holy  Father 
said,*  “ the  mission  of  charity  was  acknowledged  and  accepted  by 
all,”  with  the  social  condition  of  later  ages  in  which  “ free  competi- 
tion” has  been  substituted  for  charity.  The  first  illustration  which 
I offer  is  drawn  from  the  introduction  to  Motley’s  history  of  “The 
Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,”  in  which,  after  rapidly  sketching  the 
origin  of  the  people  of  Batavia,  their  gradual  advancement  from  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  their  wonderful  domination  of  sea 
and  land,  and  their  extraordinary  progress  until  about  the  time  of 
the  Reformation  (so-called),  the  author  sums  up  the  results  of  their 
development  in  these  graphic  words: 

“Thusf  fifteen  ages  have  passed  away,  and  in  the  place  of  a 
horde  of  savages,  living  among  swamps  and  thickets,  swarm 
3,000,000  people,  the  most  industrious,  the  most  prosperous, 
perhaps  the  most  intelligent  under  the  sun.  * * * Their  national 
industry  was  untiring;  their  prosperity  unexampled;  their  love  of 
liberty  indomitable;  their  pugnacity  proverbial.  * * * Their 

women  were  distinguished  by  beauty  of  form  and  vigor  of  consti- 
tution. Accustomed  from  childhood  to  converse  freely  with  all 
classes  in  the  daily  walks  of  life,  and  to  travel  on  foot  or  horseback 
from  one  town  to  another,  without  escort  and  without  fear,  they 
had  acquired  manners  more  frank  and  independent  than  those  of 
women  in  other  lands,  while  their  morals  were  pure  and  their 
decorum  undoubted.  * * * Within  the  little  circle  which  encloses 
the  seventeen  provinces  were  208  walled  cities,  many  of  them  the 
most  stately  in  Christendom,  150  chartered  towns,  6,300  villages, 
with  their  watch  towers  and  steeples,  besides  numerous  other  more 
insignificant  hamlets;  the  whole  guarded  by  a belt  of  sixty  fortresses 
of  surpassing  strength.” 

While  the  historian  omitted  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  from 
about  the  year  750  the  Catholic  religion  had  been  the  all-prevailing 
religion  of  this  people,  yet  he  did  not  fail  to  declare  that  “the  stand- 
ard of  culture  ’ ’ in  the  flourishing  cities  of  Ghent,  Bruges,  Antwerp, 
etc.,  “ was  elevated,  compared  with  that  observed  in  many  parts  of 
Europe.  The  children  of  the  wealthier  classes  enjoj^ed  great  facili- 
ties for  education  in  all  the  great  capitals.  The  classics,  music,  and 
the  modern  languages,  particularly  the  French,  were  universally 
cultivated.  Nor  was  intellectual  cultivation  confined  to  the  higher 
orders.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  diffused  to  a remarkable  degree 
among  the  hard-working  artisans  and  handicraftsmen  of  the  great 
cities.” 

The  author  then  alludes  to  “the  numerous  guilds  by  which 
citizenship  was  acquired  in  the  various  cities’  ’ ; to  the  ‘ 1 many  other 
societies  for  mutual  improvement,  support,  or  recreation”;  to  the 
“great  architectural  brotherhood  of  Germany,  to  which  the  magnifi- 
cent works  of  Gothic  architecture  in  the  middle  ages  are  mainly 
attributable” ; and  especially  the  “many  splendid  and  elaborately 
finished  churches  in  the  provinces” ; to  the  “military  sodalities” 
whose  ‘ ‘ yearly  festivals  were  always  held  with  great  solemnity  and 
rejoicing”;  and  lastly  to  the  “ Guilds  of  Rhetoric  which  existed  in 
all  the  principal  cities,”  and  indeed  “ in  the  most  obscure  villages,” 
and  were  ‘ ‘ associations  of  mechanics,  weavers,  smiths,  gardeners, 
and  traders,  for  the  purpose  of  amusing  their  leisure  with  poetical 
effusions,  dramatic  and  musical  exhibitions,  theatrical  processions, 
and  other  harmless  and  not  inelegant  recreations.”  These  guild's 
of  rhetoric  “ came  originally  in  the  fifteenth  century  from  France,” 
“ spread  with  great  celerity  throughout  the  Netherlands,”  “were 
of  great  value  in  drawing  the  people  of  the  provinces  into  closer 
union.”  and  “became  important  political  engines”  which  “the 
sovereigns  were  always  anxious  to  conciliate  by  becoming  members 
of  them  in  person.”  Periodic  jubilees  were  celebrated  in  various 


^Address  to  the  French  workingmen  Sunday,  October  20,  1889. 
-I-  Vol.  I,  page  90,  edition  of  1858 


capital  cities,  when  “all  the  guilds  of  rhetoric  in  the  Netherlands 
were  invited  to  partake  and  to  compete  in  magnificent  processions, 
brilliant  costumes,  living  pictures,  charades,  and  other  animated 
glittering  groups,  and  in  trials  of  dramatic  and  poetic  skill,  all 
arranged  under  the  superintendence  of  the  particular  association 
which,  in  the  preceding  year,  had  borne  away  the  prize.” 

In  these  brilliant  pen  pictures,  Mr.  Motley  omits  to  mention 
that  every  one  of  those  festivals  and  jubilees  was  commenced  by  a 
devout  and  magnificent  celebration  of  solemn  high  Mass.  He  does 
condescend,  however,  to  testify  that,  “ These  literary  guilds  befitted 
and  denoted  a people  which  was  alive,  a people  which  had  neither 
sunk  to  sleep  in  the  lap  of  material  prosperity,  nor  abased  itself  in 
the  sty  of  ignorance  and  political  servitude.  The  spirit  of  liberty 
pervaded  these  rude  but  not  illiterate  assemblies.” 

Rude,  forsooth!  A people  so  upright,  orderly,  and  chivalric 
that  a woman  could  travel  from  one  town  to  another,  all  through 
the  seventeen  provinces,  without  escort  and  without  fear,  a rude 
people!  But  we  will  not  quarrel  with  the  historian’s  standard  of 
rudeness  while  he  says:  “The  spirit  of  liberty  pervaded  these 
rude  but  not  illiterate  assemblies,  and  her  fair  proportions  were 
distinctly  visible  even  through  the  somewhat  grotesque  garb  which 
she  assumed.” 

If  the  “spirit  of  liberty  ” in  those  “ rude  ” times  had  only  been 
smart  enough  to  put  on  the  beautiful  ‘ 1 garb  ’ ’ which  she  assumes  at 
our  modern  ‘ ‘ fests  ’ ’ and  picnics  where  the  participants  guzzle  lager 
beer,  chase  the  greased  pig,  and  wind  up  with  the  enticing  and 
voluptuous  round  dance,  how  much  more  admirable  she  would  have 
been  in  the  eyes  of  the  modern  “advanced  thinker”  ! 

Specially  worthy  of  quotation  by  way  of  contrast  with  the  per- 
sistent but  erroneous  assertions  of  those  enemies  of  the  Catholic 
Church  who  declare  that  she  had  no  schools  in  the  middle  ages  and 
kept  her  people  in  ignorance,  is  that  striking  paragraph  which  stands 
out  like  a radiant  jewel  in  the  midst  of  the  author’s  splendid  descrip- 
tion of  “ the  chief  city  of  the  Netherlands,  the  commercial  capital  of 
the  world — Antwerp”:  “The  condition  of  her  population  was 
prosperous.  There  were  but  few  poor,  and  those  did  not  seek,  but 
were  sought  by  the  almoners.  The  schools  were  excellent  and 
cheap.  It  was  difficult  to  find  a child  of  sufficient  age  who  could 
not  read,  write,  and  speak  at  least  two  languages.” 

Truly  these  are  pleasing  pictures,  and  we  naturally  inquire: 
Why  could  not  the  historian  have  carefully  studied  a social,  relig- 
ious, and  political  system  which  prevailed  so  long  before  the  Refor- 
mation, and  produced  such  splendid  results,  with  a view  to  discover- 
ing its  vitalizing  principles,  and  explaining  them  for  the  illumination 
of  “seekers  after  truth  ” in  times  all  out  of  joint,  like  ours?  But 
of  course  it  would  never  occur  to  one  like  Motley,  enveloped  as  he 
was  in  the  blazing  noon-day  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  that 
the  system  whose  fruits  he  described  in  such  glowing  colors  owed 
anything  to  the  Catholic  religion,  or  to  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic 
Church;  nor  would  he  have  admitted  that  the  appalling  calamities 
which  befell  Europe  immediately  after  the  Reformation,  and  which 
he  describes  in  such  lurid  colors,  were  due  entirely  to  the  departure 
of  the  world  from  the  principles  and  teachings  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 

Mr.  Motley  imagined  that  he  was  wiser  than  the  church,  and  so, 
instead  of  endeavoring  to  analyze  and  elucidate  that  wonderful 
system,  he  deplored  the  low  ideas  of  human  rights  which  then  pre- 
vailed; for,  after  alluding  to  the  “liberties”  conferred  upon  guilds 
by  virtue  of  which  they  had  the  right  of  representation  in  town  and 
other  governments,  he  said:  “ In  later  days  loftier  ideas  of  human 
rights,  larger  conceptions  of  commerce  have  taught  mankind  the 
difference  between  liberties  and  liberty,  between  guilds  and  free 
competition.” 

Liberty  and  free  competition ! This  was  the  watchword  of  the 
new  order  of  things.  Had  Motley  but  listened  to  his  master,  Car- 
lyle, whose  peculiar  style  he  was  such  a bungler  in  imitating,  he 
would  have  learned  that  this  boasted  liberty,  after  300  years  of  the 
blessings  of  the  Reformation,  had  “turned  out  to  be  for  the  working 
millions  a liberty  to  die  by  want  of  food;  for  idle  thousands  and 
units,  alas!  a still  more  fatal  liberty  to  live  in  want  of  work,  to  have 
no  earnest  duty  to  do  in  this,  God’s  world,  any  more.” 

And  then  as  to  “ free  competition.”  Motley  could  have  read 
these  burning  words  of  Carlyle  in  “Past  and  Present”:  “We 
coldly  see  the  all-conquering,  valiant  sons  of  toil  sit  enchanted,  by 
the  million,  in  the  poor-law  Bastile,  as  if  this  were  nature’s  law; 
mumbling  to  ourselves  some  vague  j an glement  of  laisses  fairc , sup- 
ply and  demand,  cash  payment,  the  one  nexus  of  man  to  man: 
‘Free  trade,  competition,  and  devil  take  the  hindmost,’  our  latest 
gospel  yet  preached.” 


72 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


If  this  be  rhetoric — the  red-hot,  fiery  rhetoric  of  Carlyle — then 
let  me  cite,  for  the  benefit  of  the  admirers  of  Motley,  some  telling 
figures  taken  from  a recent  census.  By  way  of  contrast  with  Mot- 
ley’s glowing  pictures  of  the  condition  of  the  Netherlands  before  the 
Reformation,  let  us  look  at  Belgium  of  the  present  day.  Belgium, 
as  all  know,  is  only  a portion  of  the  Netherlands.  And  what  do  we 
find  there  now?  With  a population  which  has  increased  from 
4,064,000  in  1832  to  5,520,090  at  a recent  census,  and  with  great 
and  prosperous  manufacturing  industries,  yet  in  spite  of  this  increase 
and  this  prosperity,  Belgium  has  a vast  deal  of  poverty  within  her 
borders;  pauperism  is  everywhere.  According  to  an  official  report, 
out  of  908,000  families  in  a recent  year  only  89,000  were  wealthy, 
while  373,000  were  in  straitened  circumstances,  and  446,000  families 
were  in  a state  of  wretchedness. 

And  these  are  the  choice  fruits  of  what  Motley  called  ‘ 1 free 
competition  ’ ’ ! What  a contrast  is  here  presented  between  two 
orders  of  social  existence  in  the  same  land  ? The  first,  so  brilliantly 
described  by  Motley  as  prevailing  in  the  seventeen  provinces  before 
the  Reformation,  was  what  Carlyle  called  a true  society  with  mutual 
helpfulness,  based,  as  I may  add,  upon  the  divinely  ordered  brother- 
hood of  man  and  inspired  by  the  charity  of  the  Catholic  Church 
which  enveloped  the  whole  community!  The  other  shows,  accord- 
ing to  Carlyle,  “a  condition  of  totallest  separation  ^jjd  isolation” 
between  the  employers  and  the  poor,  ‘ ‘ whose  life,  cloaked  under  due 
laws  of  war  named  fair  competition  and  so  forth,  is  a mutual  hos- 
tility, where  men  have  forgotten  that  cash  payment  is  not  the  sole 
relation  of  human  beings,  ’ ’ is  not  the  potent  solvent  of  all  obliga- 
tions! 

Here  indeed  is  a melancholy  contrast!  Will  it  be  said  that  the 
example  is  on  too  small  a scale  ? that  the  societary  condition  of  the 
Netherlands  before  the  Reformation  was  not  a fair  sample  of  Europe  ? 
Then  let  me  cite  the  testimony  of  Froude,  who,  though  he  may  be 
a historical  romancer,  or  a romantic  historian,  yet  has  the  ability  to 
see  and  sometimes  the  fairness  to  tell  the  truth  in  most  vivid  lang- 
uage. Speaking  of  those  old  days  before  the  Reformation,  Froude 
says:  11  In  the  alteration  of  our  own  character  we  have  lost  the  key 
which  would  interpret  the  character  of  our  fathers;  and  the  great 
men  of  our  own  English  history  before  the  Reformation  seem  to  us 
almost  like  the  fossil  skeletons  of  another  order  of  beings.”*  Ot 
course,  we  do  not  admit  that  the  intelligent  Catholic  has  ‘‘lost  the 
key,”  or  does  not  fully  appreciate  the  great  men  of  England  before 
the  Reformation,  though  the  remark  may  be  true  enough  of  Protes- 
tants. Again,  according  to  Froude:  ‘ ‘ It  is  no  easy  matter  to  throw 
ourselves  back  into  a time  in  which  for  centuries  the  European  world 
grew  upon  a single  type!” 

What  was  that  type?  Not  the  feudal  system,  nor  what  is  com- 
monly called  the  mediaeval  type.  The  chief  characteristic  of  the 
type  I refer  to,  the  basis  on  which  it  was  constructed,  was  the  vil- 
lage community,  called  the  “ Town  ” in  England,  the  ‘‘Commune” 
in  France,  the  ‘‘  Fueros  ” in  Spain,  the  “ Mark”  in  Germany,  the 
11  Mir  ” in  Russia.  This  was  the  unit  of  the  social  and  political  sys- 
tem which  Sir  Henry  Maine  maintained  came  down  from  the  good 
old  patriarchal  age,  and  was  founded  upon  the  profoundest  faith  of 
primitive  men  in  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  its  necessary  corollary, 
the  brotherhood  of  man.  In  that  patriarchal  community  it  was 
intended  that  every  member  should  have  a home,  from  the  cradle  to 
the  grave,  and  the  principle  of  mutual  aid  was  perennial.  Here  the 
system  of  local  self-government  originated  and  flourished;  for  here 
every  member  or  freeman,  including  the  priest,  the  lord,  the  farmer, 
the  baker,  the  tailor,  the  blacksmith,  the  goldsmith,  the  weaver,  the 
vine-dresser,  all  participated,  speaking  and  voting  in  the  annual  and 
other  town  meetings. 

When  the  church  came  and  preached  Christianity  to  the  Keltic, 
Teutonic,  Saxon,  and  other  peoples  wTho  dwelt  in  the  village  com- 
munities throughout  Europe,  and  had  dwelt  in  them  for  ages,  upon 
beginning  with  the  original  Aryan  home,  the  town  in  England  was  in 
process  of  time  converted  into  the  parish,  in  which,  under  the 
teaching  of  the  church,  a brave  and  noble  people  was  trained  up, 
and  the  principles  of  freedom,  the  glorious  Magna  Charta,  and  the 
free  parliament  of  England  were  developed,  and  from  which  were 
derived  the  principles  and  ideas  of  our  own  magnificent  constitution. 
Then  flourished  the  ‘‘Ages  of  Faith”  in  spite  of  the  evils  of  the 
feudal  system,  and  “ in  those  days,”  as  Carlyle  said,  ‘‘a  heavenly 
awe  overshadowed  and  encompassed  all  earthly  business  whatso- 
ever.” ‘‘The  youth,  on  awakening  in  this  wondrous  universe, 
found  a competent  theory  of  its  wonders.  If  he  asked  himself, 
What  is  man  ? What  are  the  duties  of  man?  the  answer  stood  ready 

*“  History  of  England,”  Vol.  I,  page  12.  (Scribner  1871.) 


written  for  him. ” Not  then  was  he  “perplexed  with  storms  and 
passionate  questionings  of  destiny.  ’ ’ Not  then  tv^Ts  there  any  occa- 
sion for  a poor,  distraught  Robert  Elsmere  ! For  then  “mother 
church  propounded  the  ancient  ground-plan  of  the  All,”  “the 
divine  idea  of  the  world  !” 

In  those  ages,  under  this  societary  system,  every  man  who 
appeared  in  the  town  or  parish  — and  there  were  6,300  such  towns 
in  the  Netherlands  alone  — was  obliged  to  give  an  account  of  him- 
self, and  was  not  allowed  to  hang  around  like  a loafer,  and  sponge 
or  swindle  his  living  indefinitely  ; every  one  knew  his  neighbor; 
under  the  influence  of  the  church  a wholesome  public  opinion  was 
generated,  which  made  itself  felt  upon  every  individual;  beautiful 
and  edifying  social  and  religious  customs  and  traditions  were  devel- 
oped and  cherished,  and  were  preserved  from  decay  for  centuries  by 
corresponding  practices;  every  citizen  was  trained  in  the  town  gov- 
ernment to  practise  his  duties,  and  to  know  his  rights,  and  “ know- 
ing, dared  maintain  them.”*  In  a land  filled  with  such  local 
institutions,  together  with  the  numerous  church  and  trade  guilds, 
the  magnificent  cathedrals,  the  innumerable  churches,  and  the  vast 
number  of  beneficent  monasteries  which  William  Cobbett  said, 
dotted  England  every  six  miles,  and  were  equally  numerous  in  Ire- 
land, with  their  free  schools,  and  large  domains,  where  any  poor 
man  could  get  work  and  thus  be  saved  from  pauperism  and  starva- 
tion— in  such  a land  it  came  to  pass  that  for  more  than  1,500 
years  of  the  Christian  era  a poor  law  was  never  needed;  the  horrid 
work-house  was  never  seen;  pauperism,  as  we  have  it,  was  never 
heard  of,  and  the  land  was  not  covered  or  cursed  with  godless 
tramps,  or  hoodlums,  or  professional  anarchists,  or  reeking  slums  of 
pauperism,  or  atheistic  political  economists  who  treat  the  human 
laborer  as  a brute  machine  for  the  production  of  wealth,  or,  lastly, 
with  that  unspeakably  base  crowd  of  “bulls”  and  “bears,”  who 
get  up  “corners”  on  the  means  of  human  subsistence,  and  lie,  and 
cheat,  and  steal  in  ever}"  commercial  exchange  in  the  civilized 
world. 

What  a contrast  between  our  surroundings,  our  societary  con- 
ditions, and  that  venerable  and  efficient  system  which  started  with 
the  patriarchs  in  the  dawn  of  time  and  culminated  in  the  glorious 
“Ages  of  Faith.”  When  King  Henry  VIII,  in  the  early  days  of 
his  reign,  while  he  was  yet  a Catholic,  made  a “royal  progress” 
through  England,  he  saw  no  work-houses,  but  everywhere  compar- 
ative comfort  and  prosperity,  and  a yeomanry  which,  though  degen- 
erating, still  retained  many  of  the  traits  of  what  Tineas  Silvius  (Pope 
Pius  II,  1458)  called  the  noblest  yeomanry  in  Europe. 

But  when,  some  forty  or  fifty  years  later,  Queen  Elizabeth 
made  another  “royal  progress”  through  the  kingdom,  after  the 
monasteries  had  been  confiscated  and  despoiled,  the  lands  appropri- 
ated by  the  corrupt  agents  of  the  crown,  when  the  guilds  were  be- 
coming lifeless,  the  poor  were  thrown  out  to  shift  for  themselves, 
the  altars  of  the  churches  were  broken  down  and  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment no  longer  there,  the  scenes  that  met  the  queen’s  eyes  were  so 
changed  that  she  exclaimed  with  astonishment,  ‘ ‘ The  land  is  cov- 
ered with  paupers!  ” 

Even  then  the  modern  gospel  of  Mammon  had  begun  to  show 
its  terrible  effects.  For  this  new  gospel  of  individualism  and  self- 
assertion,  with  its  protest  against  the  pope,  and  its  rebellion  against 
the  divine  authority  of  the  church,  had  removed  the  two  grand  safe- 
guards of  Christian  society — charity  and  confession.  For,  how  can 
there  be  Christian  charity  when  men  are  cut  off  from  participation 
in  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Ford?  And  confession  being  abolished, 
what  was  there  to  stop  the  speedy  vanishing  of  the  old  safeguards  of 
the  various  guilds,  and  the  wholesome  restraints  of  village  commun- 
ity life  ? What  could  hinder  the  outbreak  of  the  new-fangled  license 
of  unrestrained  individual  competition,  which  had  never  so  existed 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  which  John  Stuart  Mill  said 
in  his  day  was  almost  unknown  and  unfelt  among  the  greater  part 
of  mankind  ? Under  the  old  system  confession  was  the  universal 
watchman  which  insured  obedience  to  the  golden  rule;  and  no 
policemen,  other  than  the  ordinary  town  officers,  were  needed.  But 
under  the  new  conditions,  confession  being  abolished,  appoint  any 
number  of  watchmen,  and  then  came  up  the  old  proverb  quoted  by 
Froude:  Quis  custodict  custodem?  Who  shall  watch  the  watchman? 

Gone  was  the  great  and  salutary  custodian!  And  in  place 
thereof  came  the  new  gospel  and  in  due  time  the  modern  cornmer- 


* Men  who  tlieir  duties  know; 

But  know  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare  maintain. 

From  Sir  William  Jones’  ode  on,  “What  Constitutes  a State?”  An  ode  which 
could  have  been  written  only  by  one  who  had  felt  and  imbibed  the  spirit  of 
regulated  liberty,  developed  by  the  town-meeting  system. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


73 


cial  system  which,  ignoring  all  demands  of  charity,  pitted  every 
man’s  intense  selfishness  against  that  of  his  neighbor — thus  making 
the  neighbor  an  envious  rival  and  in  most  cases  a bitter  enemy. 
Hence,  too,  has  come  that  school  of  cold-blooded  political  economists 
who  proclaim  with  unblushing  effrontery,  characteristic  of  those  who 
deduce  man  from  the  tadpole,  that  “notions  of  justice  have  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  compensation  for  labor,  ’ ’ and  ‘ ‘ that  all  such 
notions  are  mere  sentimentalism!”*  What  wonder  that  under  such 
teachings  “free  competition”  proved  to  be  freedom  to  defraud  and 
oppress  the  laborer,  freedom  to  adulterate  everything  we  eat,  drink, 
or  wear — and  John  Bright  said,  “adulteration  is  only  another  form 
of  competition” — or  else  freedom  to  suffer  the  agonies  of  hunger, 
neglect,  and  despair,  and  finally,  as  Carlyle  exclaimed,  “ Liberty  to 
die  by  honest  starvation!” 

It  is  not  necessary  to  read  the  “Bitter  Cry”  of  London, 
or  the  painful  pictures  of  the  poor  women  of  New  York  drawn 
by  Helen  Campbell,  or  innumerable  other  essays  of  a similar 
kind,  to  learn  the  dreadful  effects  of  this  fearful  contrivance 
called  “ free  competition.”  Only  go  with  an  experienced  St.  Vin- 
cent-of-Paul  visitor  down  into  the  by-ways  and  dirty  alleys  of  this 
or  any  other  city,  enter  the  miserable  tenements  of  the  poor,  and  see 
how  families  or  squads  of  human  beings  are  huddled  together  in 
dark  apartments,  in  rickety  houses,  in  filthy  rooms,  where  decency 
is  put  to  shame,  and  thousands  of  human  beings  are  degraded 
almost  below  the  level  of  the  brute! 

If  miserable  savages,  in  their  almost  total  loss  of  the  original 
and  salutary  traditions  of  the  race,  have  become  so  degraded,  igno- 
rant, and  improvident  that  there  are  times  when  they  are  glad  to  get 
dogs,  snakes,  lizards,  or  worms  to  live  on,  what  shall  we  say  of 
the  boasted  civilization  of  this  nineteenth  century  which  has  reduced 
millions  of  its  population  to  such  hungry  poverty  that  they  are  glad 
to  glean  from  the  swill-tubs  of  the  rich,  and  even  drag  from  the 
shambles  to  their  wretched  hovels  the  repulsive  entrails  of  slaught- 
ered animals  ? 

Such  is  the  dismal  picture  presented  in  every  city  and  consider- 
able town  in  this  great  republic,  in  England,  and  in  short  wherever 
‘ ‘ free  competition  ’ ’ has  obtained  sway.  And  such  use  does  the  civil- 
ization of  this  age,  with  all  its  boasted  progress  and  science,  make  of 
vast  multitudes  of  human  beings  to  whom  God  gave  immortal  souls 
and  an  eternal  destiny.  I do  not  overlook  the  assertions  of  certain 
political  economists  who,  by  a skilful  collocation  of  facts  and  a 
sophistical  array  of  figures,  endeavor  to  show  that  the  general  con- 
dition of  laborers  is  improved,  that  they  are  getting  higher  wages 
and  live  better  than  in  some  former  ages.  But  I do  not  hesitate  to 
assert  with  Devas  and  other  writers  that  these  statements  are  false, 
that  in  fact  the  comparatively  few  rich  are  getting  richer,  the  multi- 
tudinous poor  are  getting  more  numerous  and  poorer,  and  that  paup- 
erism is  more  general,  more  wretched,  and  more  rapidly  increasing 
than  in  any  former  age  of  the  w’orld. 

With  such  results  staring  us  in  the  face  in  all  parts  of  the  civil- 
ized world,  is  it  surprising  that  there  should  be  a spirit  of  inquiry 
and  unrest  everywhere  ; that  a loss  of  faith  should  follow  in  the 
track  of  such  misery  and  injustice  ; that  wild  agrarian  speculations 
and  revolutionary  schemes  should  abound  ; and  that  even  a spirit  of 
anarchy  should  threaten  the  good  order  of  society  ? Is  not  the  out- 
look so  dark  and  threatening  as  to  fill  us  almost  with  despair  ? And 
a most  discouraging  feature  of  the  situation  is  that  so  many  even  of 
our  most  intelligent  Catholics,  who,  by  a proper  understanding  of 
history  and  their  religion,  ought  to  be  able  to  furnish  a solution  of 
our  troubles,  show  themselves  inadequate  to  the  occasion,  tamely 
accepting  the  situation  as  inevitable,  saying  “it  always  has  been  so, 
and  always  will  be  so,”  and  then, by  way  of  justification,  even  quot- 
ing the  words  of  our  divine  Lord  : “ The  poor  ye  have  always  with 
you.” 

Is  that  what  our  Lord  meant  by  that  saying  ? Did  he  mean 
that,  because  the  poor  are  always  with  us,  men  were  to  abandon  the 
idea  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  as  the  basis  of  human  society,  and 
ignore  the  great  truth  that  they  are  bound  by  their  common  interest 
in  the  God-man,  the  mediator,  to  so  constitute  their  social  arrange- 
ments that  every  human  being  shall  have  the  opportunity  of  filling 
his  proper  place  and  accomplishing  his  true  work  in  this  world  ? 

Did  our  Lord  mean  that  this  natural  home  should  be  broken  up, 
family  ties  disrupted,  the  duties  of  brotherhood  abjured,  and  all 
turned  loose,  so  to  speak,  like  so  many  Ishmaelites,  in  a cut-purse 
and  cut-throat  scramble  in  which  the  strongest,  the  keenest,  and  the 
meanest  should  gather  the  spoils,  and  the  weakest  go  to  the  wall  ? 

Did  our  Lord  mean  that  the  highest  duty  of  the  state  is  simply 


* The  Nation,  January  29,  1885. 


to  abolish  club  law,  and  protect  property,  and  allow  speculators  to 
organize  exchanges  in  which  to  manipulate  their  combinations, 
misrepresentations,  and  falsehoods,  in  order  to  deceive  and  rob  each 
other  and  plunder  the  1 1 lambs,  ’ ’ and  by  their  huge  operations  affect 
all  branches  of  commerce,  unsettle  all  the  safe  calculations  of  legiti- 
mate trade,  foster  a spirit  of  wild  speculation,  promoting  a grasping 
greed  to  gain  something  for  nothing,  and  destroying  all  standards 
of  j ustice  and  common  honesty  ? 

Did  our  Lord  mean  that  the  rich  should  have  privileges  not 
accorded  to  laborers — that  the  wealthy  owners  of  great  railroad  and 
telegraph  lines,  big  distilleries  and  breweries, Standard-Oil  companies, 
and  the  like,  when  finding  their  business  suffering  from  sharp  com- 
petition, may  combine  and  pool  their  issues  with  impunity,  taxing 
a helpless  public  ad  libitum  in  order  to  swell  their  own  ill-gotten 
gains;  yet  when  the  laborers,  whose  live  capital  is  their  intelligence, 
skill,  and  strong  hands,  cooperate  in  order  to  forestall  or  ward  off 
the  evils  of  a ruinous  competition  ofman  against  man — hand  against 
hand — then,  forsooth,  their  combination  must  be  denounced  as 
dangerous  and  tyrannical  ? Is  there  any  justice  in  that  ? 

Or  has  there  been  a special  relaxation  of  the  moral  code  in  favor 
of  the  rich  owners  of  stock  companies;  so  that  they  may  at  pleasure 
add  millions  of  watered  stock  to  their  real  stock,  and  then  tax  the 
entire  public  so  that  they  may  net  an  income  of  five  to  fifty  per  cent 
or  more,  not  only  upon  the  real  capital  stock,  but  also  upon  the 
‘ ‘ water  ’ ’ which  cost  them  nothing  ? Where  is  the  honest)’  of  such 
transactions  ? 

And,  again,  is  it  honest  or  brotherly  on  the  part  of  these  capi- 
talists to  hire  men  to  go  about  the  streets  to  preach  communism  and 
anarchy,  and  to  threaten  the  use  of  dynamite  or  bomb  shells,  until 
honest,  conservative  people  are  frightened  out  of  their  wits  and  are 
diverted  from  the  rascalities  of  the  rich  conspirators  ? 

And,  lastly,  let  it  be  remembered  that  when  our  Lord  spoke  of 
the  ‘ ‘ poor,  ’ ’ such  pauperism  as  we  have  now  was  unknown — did 
not  exist  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Now  I have  presented  these  salient  points,  which  by  no  meads 
exhaust  the  catalogue,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  the  modern 
gospel  of  “free  competition”  with  its  commercial  system  based 
upon  selfishness,  and  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord,  based  upon  charity,  are 
utterly  irreconcilable.  Even  Carlyle,  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  appre- 
hended and  illustrated  their  truth.  And  yet  this  antagonistic  sys- 
tem of  “free  competition”  has  dominated  the  English-speaking 
people  for  two  centuries  or  more,  and  constitutes  the  very  essence  of 
our  so-called  civilization,  with  its  unjust  accumulation  of  enormous 
fortunes  and  the  realization  of  splendid  but  corrupting  luxury  by 
the  few,  and  its  rapidly  increasing  pauperism  and  squalid  misery  on 
the  part  of  the  many.  Matthew  Arnold,  depicting  the  effects  of  this 
civilization  in  England,  declared  in  these  sad  words,  that  by  it  “the 
higher  class  has  become  materialized,  the  middle  class  vulgarized, 
and  the  lower  class  brutalized ! ” And  I add  that  not  only  has  it 
succeeded  in  subordinating  all  forms  of  Protestant  Christianity,  but 
its  spirit  of  intense  worldliness  has  so  saturated  the  English-speaking 
Catholic  people  that  multitudes  of  them  join  in  the  insane  scramble 
for  wealth  — some  of  them  even  dabbling  in  “ corners  ” and  dealing 
in  “futures”  on  ’change,  and,  in  the  coldness  of  their  charity 
neglecting  the  care  of  the  poor  in  their  own  parishes. 

And  thus,  in  view  of  the  all-pervading  and  insidious  influences 
that  surround  and  hedge  us  in  on  all  sides — in  our  schools  and  sys- 
tems of  education;  in  our  politics,  commerce,  and  trade;  and  above 
all,  in  our  agnostic  publications  and  in  our  depraved  works  of  art 
and  floating  literature,  which  are  so  inexpressibly  enticing  and  cor- 
rupting— it  is  a grave  and  serious  question  whether  our  environment, 
and  especially  that  of  our  young  men,  whether  rich  or  poor,  is  not 
more  difficult  and  more  dangerous  than  that  of  the  early  Christians 
in  the  corrupt  Roman  empire. 

“Verily,”  cried  Carlyle  over  forty  years  ago — and  the  con- 
dition of  things  has  grown  vastly  worse  since  then — “at  no  time 
since  the  beginning  of  society  was  the  lot  of  the  dumb  millions  of 
toilers  so  utterly  unbearable  as  it  is  even  in  the  days  now  passing 
over  us.  It  is  not  to  die,  or  even  to  die  of  hunger,  that  makes  a man 
wretched;  but  to  live  miserable,  we  know  not  why;  to  work  sore 
and  yet  gain  nothing;  to  be  * * * isolated,  unrelated,  girt  witli 

a cold,  universal laissczfaire!  ” “Truly,  an  enchantment  of  the  evil 
one!  ” 

Now  the  question  is  how  to  get  out  of  that  horrible  enchant- 
ment, how  to  reconstruct  and  rehabilitate  a societary  condition  which 
shall  embrace  all  the  people,  as  of  old,  and  give  every  human  being 
at  least  an  opportunity  to  do  and  to  be  what  he  should  do  and  should 
be  ? Is  this  a Utopian  vision  ? Is  it  an  impossible  though  fascinat- 
ing scheme  ? Let  us  not  forget  that  the  very  object  of  our  Lord’s 


74 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


mission  to  this  earth  was  to  enable  us  to  overcome  the  wretched 
consequences  of  man’s  disobedience,  and  to  build  up  spiritual  and 
temporal  societies  to  be  the  peaceful  homes  of  all  mankind. 

Thank  God,  there  are  to-day  some  signs  of  improvement,  some 
grounds  of  hope  for  a betterment  of  our  condition.  For  is  it  not 
indeed  a hopeful  sign  that  on  every  side  strenuous  efforts  are  making, 
on  the  part  of  those  who  suffer  and  those  who  sympathize  with  them, 
to  stop  the  process  of  disintegration  resulting  from  unrestrained  com- 
petition, and  to  recommence  the  process  of  recombining  the  isolated 
particles  in  a consolidated  union,  cooperating  harmoniously  once 
more  on  the  primordial  principle  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  ? 

Under  the  influence  of  the  modern  gospel,  men  were  slow  in 
learning  that  selfishness  never  can  be  a permanent  bond  of  union, 
but  always  must  be  a powerful,  almost  irresistible,  force  tending  to 
disunion  and  disruption.  But  the  reaction  came  at  last.  Beginning 
some  forty  or  fifty  years  ago  with  the  trades  unions  in  England, 
which  had  to  fight  their  way  inch  by  inch  against  the  purse-proud 
and  bull-dog  conservatism  of  the  English  plutocracy,  and  following 
along  with  the  cooperative  societies,  the  mutual  aid  associations,  the 
Rochedale  unions,  the  labor  unions,  the  profit-sharing  enterprises, 
and  the  altogether  praiseworthy  manufacturing  establishments  in 
France,  Belgium,  England,  and  this  country — alas!  too  few — organ- 
ized by  just-minded  and  whole-souled  men  so  as  to  promote  and 
secure  the  highest  interests  of  every  workman  and  his  family,  we 
come  down  at  last  to  the  powerful  organization  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor  of  the  present  day. 

But  it  is  not  within  the  scope  of  my  design  now  to  inquire  into 
the  details,  the  merits,  or  defects  of  these  various  organizations.  All 
honor  to  the  good  ones,  and  success  to  their  judicious  endeavors  ! 
It  is  truly  a pleasure  to  note  that  one  “result  of  this  great  labor 
movement,’’  as  Mr.  Ely  said,*  “ is  a grander  conception  of  brother- 
hood. When  the  members  of  labor  organizations  call  one  another 
brother  and  sister  it  means  something,  and  every  day  it  is  coming  to 
mean  more,  as  those  know  who  look  a little  below  the  surface  of 
things,  and  study  men  with  half  the  care  with  which  natural  phe- 
nomena are  examined.  Association  is  of  inestimable  benefit  to 
men.  It  is  one  of  Henry  C.  Carey’s  merits  as  a political  economist 
that  he  brought  out  so  clearly  the  great  truth  that  ‘ Man  is  by 
nature  a social  being;’  ” — a teaching,  I may  add,  so  different  from, 
and  so  much  more  humane  and  noble  than  the  teaching  of  that  hard, 
godless  political  economy  which  treats  the  laborer  as  a mere  machine, 
hardly  on  a level  with  the  beasts  that  perish. 

But  however  admirable  may  be  this  prevailing  tendency  towards 
association  and  cooperation,  and  however  much  to  be  encouraged 
this  growing  feeling  of  brotherhood,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  all  these 
movements  are  simply  voluntary  associations,  partial  and  limited,  not 
state  organizations  embracing  all  parts  of  human  society.  True,  there 
may  be  some  efforts  tending  in  the  same  direction  on  the  part  of 
some  states.  Thus  there  is  Bismarck’s  famous  scheme  by  which 
the  government  takes  the  monopoly  of  manufacturing  tobacco,  and 
uses  the  income  from  the  business  as  a basis  for  a fund  for  the  insur- 
ance of  men  working  in  the  factories  against  accident  or  inability  to 
work  from  old  age  — the  income  of  the  monopoly  being  called  the 
patrimony  of  the  poor.  Tending  in  the  same  direction  is  the  state 
control  of  railroads  in  France,  state  control  of  telegraph  lines,  ten- 
ement houses,  and  tenant-rights  to  land  in  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, and  the  agitation  for  state  control  of  railroad  and  telegraph 
lines,  and  state  resumption  of  the  ownership  of  land  and  the  taxa- 
tion of  land  values  in  this  country. 

But  the  point  I wish  to  make  now  is  this:  That  neither  one  of 
these  schemes,  nor  all  of  them  put  together,  can  work  out  a solu- 
tion of  the  complicated  social  problems  that  perplex  this  age.  For, 
after  all,  they  are,  as  I said,  only  partial  remedies.  No  doubt  the 
associations  bring  great  helps  to  all  who  are  members,  and  who  can 
manage  by  good  health  and  strength  to  hold  their  membership. 
But  they  by  no  means  include  and  provide  for  the  vast  numbers 
who  are  not  members — that  is  to  say,  for  all  the  people,  as  did  the 
primitive  plan  of  human  society  when  launched  by  the  all-wise 
Creator  upon  the  principle  of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  At  the  very 
highest  estimate  are  not  all  these  organizations  and  state  efforts 
mainly  intended  to  advance  merely  the  temporal  and  material 
interests  of  men  ? They  may  be  cunningly  devised  to  reconcile 
those  interests;  but  they,  as  well  as  the  brilliant  schemes  for  state 
assumption  of  all  industrial  enterprises  and  public  establishments 
so  beautifully  elucidated  by  Edward  Bellamy  in  his  fascinating 
book,  “ Looking  Backward,’’  must  fail  to  accomplish  the  great  end 
of  human  society  simply  because  they  do  not  embody  or  make  place 


for  the  divine  principle  of  charity.  “For  all  these  things,”  said 
our  Lord,  “do  the  heathen  seek.”  Humanity  cannot  be  saved  by 
heathenism.  The  highest  good  of  human  society,  by  the  order  of 
its  divine  Creator,  depends  upon  the  harmony  of  the  natural  order 
with  the  supernatural  order.  Dr.  Brownson  demonstrated,  forty 
years  ago,  in  his  profound  criticisms  of  the  fascinating  theories  of 
Owen,  Fourier,  Saint-Simon,  Cabet,  Leroux,  and  other  socialists, 
that  if  the  supreme  good  of  society  is  sought  for  on  the  assump- 
tion that  that  good  lies  in  the  natural  order  alone,  and  that  the 
supernatural  order  is  a myth,  and  therefore  to  be  ignored  and 
unheeded,  then,  however  numerous  and  powerful  may  be  your 
merely  humane,  philanthropic,  and  cooperative  measures,  yet  the 
final  end  of  it  all  must  be  inevitable  failure. 

Helen  Campbell  proclaimed  that  there  could  be  no  mitigation 
of  pauperism  until  ‘ ‘ the  whole  system  of  modern  thought  is  recon- 
structed, and  we  come  to  some  sense  of  what  the  eternal  verities 
really  are.”  True  enough!  But  need  I add  that  only  the  Catholic 
Church  can  teach  those  ‘ ‘ eternal  verities  ’ ’ ? —that  she  alone  can 
solve  the  problems  that  are  worrying  the  souls  of  men  ? For  she 
alone  has  the  light  that  can  enlighten  our  darkness.  She  alone  has 
the  word  suited  to  our  condition,  and  what  more  we  need  is  to  have 
that  word  given  to  the  hungry  millions  who  are  waiting  and  gasp- 
ing for  the  Bread  of  Life. 

Who  has  forgotten  that  vast  crowds  of  enthusiastic  men  and 
women  not  long  ago  imagined  that  the  hoped-for  messenger  had 
appeared  in  Henry  George  or  Dr.  McGlynn  ? It  was  wonderful  to 
see  the  depth  and  earnestness  of  feeling  exhibited  by  those  people. 
So  also  was  it  pitiful  to  witness  their  sore  disappointment. 

But  in  this  trying  crisis  we  are  not  left  without  leaders.  Thank 
God!  the  judicious,  earnest,  and  sympathizing  efforts  of  Cardinal 
Gibbons  at  Rome  in  behalf  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  and  the  cause 
of  freedom  in  our  glorious  country7,  and  the  magnificent  triumph  of 
Cardinal  Manning  in  his  recent  grand  work  of  reconciling  the  rich 
and  haughty  dock  owners  and  the  poor  laborers  in  London,  have 
lifted  up  the  hearts  and  hopes  of  the  waiting  and  despairing  millions. 
The  universal  outburst  of  popular  admiration  which  greeted  these 
great  efforts  demonstrates,  I believe,  that  the  field  is  ripe  for  the 
harvest — that  the  people  are  in  a condition  to  receive  the  word 
which  Catholic  leaders  ought  to  be  able  to  deliver.  St.  Philip  Neri 
said:  “ Give  me  even  ten  truly  detached  men  and  I will  convert  the 
world.”  If  only  we  could  see  Cardinal  Manning  and  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons joined  by  even  ten  more  equally  detached,  self-denying,  hum- 
ble, brave,  well  equipped,  eloquent,  and  pure-minded  men,  how  soon 
would  our  eyes  be  gladdened  by  seeing  them  carry  the  world  before 
them! 

While  we  are  waiting  for  this  heroic,  self-denying  band  to  step 
forth  as  leaders  in  this  righteous  crusade,  let  every  Catholic  remem- 
ber that  he  too,  can  join  in  a crusade,  and  can  readily  find  a field 
for  the  exercise  of  a heroic  self-denial  and  love  of  his  neighbor  among 
the  people  of  his  own  parish,  where,  under  judicious  guidance,  the 
brethren  could  be  led  on  to  work  wonders  by  driving  out  pauperism 
and  making  the  parish  a model  Christian  society,  of  which  people 
would  say  once  more,  as  of  old:  “Behold,  how  these  Christians 
love  one  another  ! ’ ’ 

“Impossible!”  do  you  say?  Would  you  then  dissolve  the 
God-man  and  become  worse  than  an  infidel  ? Do  you  hold  that  the 
glorious  Christian  ideals  on  which  Christendom  was  so  wonderfully 
formed  by  the  saints  and  doctors  and  philosophers  and  artists  dur- 
ing 1,400  years,  have  vanished  never  to  return?  God  forbid,  and 
help  up  us  to  realize  those  ideals  once  more. 

“Restore,”  said  the  Holy  Father,*  “that  social  edifice  so 
patiently  reared  by  the  church  in  other  ages,  and  let  it  be  strength- 
ened by  listening  once  more  to  the  teaching  of  the  church.  * * * 

I wish  that,  by  a sincere  return  to  Christian  principles,  men  should 
endeavor  to  restore,  to  secure  between  employers  and  workmen, 
between  capital  and  labor,  the  harmony  and  union  which  can  alone 
guarantee  the  interests  of  both,  and  alone  contribute  to  the  private 
welfare  of  all.” 

WHAT  CATHOLICS  HAVE  DONE  IN  THE  LAST 
HUNDRED  YEARS. 

TWELFTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  RICHARD  H.  CLARKE,  LL.D.,  OF  NEW 

YORK  CITY. 

It  is  a spectacle  as  pleasing  to  heaven  as  it  is  of  deep  interest  to 
men,  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States,  by  their  representatives 
assembled  in  congress,  this  year  of  grace,  the  centenary  of  the  hier- 


*Forum , March,  1887. 


* Address  to  the  French  workingmen,  Sunday,  October  20.  1889. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


75 


archy,  to  review  the  history  of  the  past  hundred  years,  to  consider  the 
present  status  with  its  duties,  and  the  future  with  its  hopes.  It  is  not 
in  our  civil  or  political  character  as  citizens,  it  is  not  as  representa- 
tives of  the  learned  professions,  or  of  art,  science,  commerce,  or 
labor,  but  we  are  assembled  as  Christians;  as  members  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  a church  which  has  faithfully  taught  the  generations 
of  nineteen  centuries  their  relations  to  God,  their  neighbors,  and 
themselves,  and  has  led  those  generations  with  honor  to  the  grave. 
While  treating  the  subject  historically,  I shall  avoid  dry  details. 
We  must  consider  our  position  in  this  western'  world  at  the  discov- 
ery, at  the  erection  of  the  first  episcopal  see  in  1789,  and  at  the 
present  moment,  and  consider  what  light  is  thus  thrown  upon  the 
duties  and  the  prospects  of  the  future.  What  have  we  accomplished 
for  our  religion  and  our  country?  Have  we  done  our  whole  duty? 
How  can  we  accomplish  more  and  better  things  in  the  coming 
century? 

At  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus  in  1492, 
the  most  important  aspect  of  the  situation  was  not  so  much  the  dis- 
covery of  a continent  as  the  coming  of  the  Christian  races  ot 
Europe  face  to  face  with  new  and  unknown  races  of  their  fellow- 
men  — savages,  it  is  true,  but  endowed  with  souls  after  the 
image  of  the  one  true  God.  In  1789,  when  the  republic  had  sprung 
into  life  and  action,  and  the  church  was  organized,  we,  as  a religious 
body,  stood  face  to  face  with  relations  and  duties  to  the  Indians,  to 
the  colored  population,  to  our  Protestant  fellow-citizens  consti- 
tuting the  great  mass  of  the  American  prople,  and  to  ourselves. 

Our  centenary  is  that  of  the  erection  of  the  see  of  Baltimore, 
and  the  appointment  of  the  first  bishop  by  the  papal  bulls,  dated 
November  6,  1789,  and  not  that  of  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Car- 
roll,  which  took  place  at  L,ul worth  Castle,  at  the  invitation  ot 
Thomas  Weld,  Esq.,  a zealous  Catholic  layman,  in  England,  August 
15,  1790.  Our  first  bishop  received  consecration  from  the  hands  ot 
Rt.  Rev.  Charles  Walmesley,  bishop  of  Rama,  in  partibus,  and  vicar 
apostolic  of  Rondon.  A brief  retrospective  glance  at  Catholic  his- 
tory from  this  auspicious  event  through  our  colonial  period  is  neces- 
sary; but  in  a paper  unavoidably  restricted  in  length,  as  this  is,  I 
am  compelled  to  condense  whole  chapters  of  history  into  sentences, 
even  into  words. 

Our  progress  now  seems  to  me  but  the  recovery  of  a field  which 
was  originally  our  own.  Catholic  Northmen  were  the  first  Chris- 
tians to  land  on  our  shores,  and  as  earl}7  as  the  tenth  century  down 
to  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth,  the  western  continent  had  her 
Catholic  churches,  cathedrals,  and  a succession  of  seventeen  or 
eighteen  bishops,  and  our  own  shores  were  visited  by  a Catholic 
bishop  and  priests,  and  the  cross  planted  in  our  soil.  The  Vinland 
of  the  Northmen  is  now  recognized  by  scholars  as  having  been 
located  in  Rhode  Island,  near  Newport,  and  there  Bishop  Eric  gave 
his  life  for  the  faith  in  the  twelfth  century. 

The  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus  was  distinctively  a 
Catholic  event,  and  the  Cabots,  John  and  Sebastian,  in  1498,  ex- 
plored our  northern  Atlantic  coast,  were  accompanied,  as  is  well 
known,  by  a priest  from  Bristol,  Eng.,  and  Mass  was  then  said 
within  our  territories.  Again  our  soil  was  consecrated  to  Catholicity 
in  1512  under  Ponce  De  Leon  in  Florida.  The  discovery  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean  in  1513  by  Balboa,  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  by  Garay  in 
1524,  the  crossing  of  the  continent  by  De  Vaca  in  1532,  the  discov- 
ery of  Canada  by  Cartier  in  1534,  of  the  Mississippi  by  De  Soto  in 
1541,  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards  to  New  Mexico  under  Coronado 
in  1542,  the  building  of  St.  Augustine  in  1564,  the  first  Mass  in 
California  in  1601,  Champlain’s  discovery  of  Penobscot  Bay  in  1604, 
of  Lake  Champlain  in  1609,  and  of  Lake  Ontario  in  1615,  and,  above 
all,  the  arrival  of  the  Catholic  colony  of  Maryland  from  England  in 
1634  are  only  a few  of  the  events,  Catholic  in  origin,  motive,  and 
history,  which  have  given  our  religion  the  historic  precedence  here 
over  all  others.  The  early  Indian  Catholic  missions,  with  their 
good  results  in  converting  thousands  of  pagans  to  Christianity,  the 
labors,  travels,  sufferings,  persecutions,  and  martyrdoms  of  saintly 
missionaries  form  a chapter  of  surpassing  heroism  and  grandeur  in 
American  Catholic  history.  We  may  attribute  the  unparalleled 
growth  of  Catholicity  during  the  closing  century  in  part  to  the  blood 
of  martyrs  so  generously  poured  forth  on  our  soil. 

Though  not  included  in  my  subject,  I cannot  refrain  from  mak- 
ing a passing  mention  of  the  patriotic  services  rendered  by  Cath- 
olics in  our  revolutionary  struggle.  While  other  religious 
bodies  were  either  against  us  or  were  iargely  divided,  Catholics 
were  united  with  singular  compactness  in  favor  of  American  inde- 
pendence and  the  war  for  its  attainment.  The  American  armies 
swarmed  with  Catholic  soldiers.  The  names  of  Moylan,  Doyle, 
McGuire,  Vigo,  Charlevoix,  Gosselin,  Guillot,  La  Balme,  Loiseau, 


and  of  the  Indian  chief,  Orono,  who  held  a continental  commission, 
should  be  honorably  mentioned.  While  Canada,  as  a whole,  was 
secured  against  us,  the  list  I give  shows  how  great  was  individual 
sympathy  for  us  in  Canada.  Catholic  France  and  Spain  rendered 
us  services  indispensable  to  our  success.  Commodore  John  Barry, 
by  his  gallantry,  skill,  and  victories,  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
American  navy.  In  the  Continental  Congress  sat  Charles  Carroll, 
of  Carrollton,  Daniel  Carroll,  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  and  John  Sim 
Lee  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  was  a member  of  the  board  of  war  and 
a United  States  senator.  Thomas  Fitzsimmons  and  Daniel  Carroll 
were  members  of  the  convention  that  framed  the  constitution. 
Thomas  Fitzsimmons  and  George  Meade,  grandfather  of  the  hero  of 
Gettysburg,  also  rendered  important  military  sendees.  The  mis- 
sion of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Carroll,  in 
company  with  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Samuel  Chase,  to  Canada,  at 
the  request  of  congress,  was  in  keeping  with  the  unfailing  readiness 
of  Catholics  from  that  day  to  this  to  serve  their  country. 

Prior  to,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  revolution,  the  Catholic 
cause  was  greatly  depressed.  Protestant  England  had  triumphed 
over  Catholic  France  in  America,  the  Indian  missions  were  either 
crushed  or  jeopardized,  Catholic  Canada  not  only  belonged  to 
England,  but  her  sympathies  also  had  been  gained  against  us  by 
the  adroit  policy  of  England,  a just  policy  in  itself,  by  securing  to 
the  Canadians  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  by  the  celebrated 
Quebec  Act.  The  action  and  declarations  of  congress,  hostile  at 
once  to  our  faith  and  to  the  religious  freedom  guaranteed  to  Canada 
by  that  act,  were  unfortunate  in  principle  and  in  effect.  The 
Society  of  Jesus,  of  which  the  American  clergy  were  members,  had 
been  suppressed,  and  most  of  the  states  discriminated  against  Cath- 
olics in  their  constitutions  and  laws. 

But  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  the  inauguration  of 
Washington  as  first  president,  and  the  consecration  of  Dr.  Carroll 
as  first  Catholic  bishop,  the  tide  was  changed,  and  our  first  century 
of  unprecedeuted  growth  and  Catholic  progress  was  inaugurated 
under  bright  auspices  in  1789.  Catholics  came  out  of  the  war  with 
an  honorable  record.  The  struggle  for  independence  had  educated 
the  American  people  in  favor  of  religious  liberty.  Washington  at 
Boston  on  November  5,  1774,  had  given  the  deathblow  to  an  annual 
celebration,  insulting  to  Catholics,  and  known  as  “The  Pope’s 
Day,’’  and  the  celebration  of  “ Guy  Fawkes’  Day”  in  other  parts 
of  New  England  ceased  with  it.  Laws  discriminating  against  Cath- 
olics had  disappeared  from  the  statute  books  of  most  of  the  states, 
and  Catholics  now  enjoyed  freedom  of  worship  everywhere.  The 
two  clauses  of  the  constitution,  one  providing  that,  “ Congress  shall 
not  require  any  religious  test  as  a qualification  for  office  under  the 
United  States,”  and  the  other  providing  that,  “ Congress  shall  make 
no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or  forbidding  the 
free  exercise  thereof,”  exerted  a wonderful  moral  effect  on  the 
states  which  still  reserved  such  powers  to  themselves.  This  con- 
stitutional provision  was  and  still  is  imperfect  — it  would  have  been 
complete  had  these  powers,  thus  forbidden  to  congress,  been  also 
prohibited  to  the  states.  Catholics  wisely  refrained  from  agitating 
this  subject  publicly,  while  they  ardently  favored  the  clause;  and  it 
would  not  seem  from  historical  data,  that  they  presented  any  peti- 
tion to  congress  or  the  convention  on  the  subject,  as  some  have 
supposed.  Archbishop  Carroll  thought,  and  with  good  reasons,  no 
doubt,  that  this  clause  was  actuated  partly  by  deference  and  respect 
for  Catholics  — the  states,  in  most  of  which  one  or  another  sect  pre- 
dominated, adopted  the  amendment,  as  there  is  good  historical  basis 
for  believing,  as  a security  to  their  own  sects  against  a possible  ma- 
jority in  congress  against  them.  But  as  a matter  of  constitutional 
law,  congress  could  not  have  exercised  such  a power,  even  without 
that  clause,  for  it  is  expressly  provided  in  the  constitution  that,  “The 
powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  constitution,  nor 
prohibited  by  it  to  the  states,  are  reserved  to  the  states  respectively, 
or  to  the  people.”  The  effect  of  the  clause  is  chiefly  a moral  one, 
and  has  done  good  service  as  such. 

The  patriotism  and  loyalty  of  Catholics  have  frequently  been 
attested.  The  address  of  the  Catholics  to  Washington,  in  March, 
1790,  is  not  surpassed  by  any  manifestation  of  patriotism  in  our 
history  as  a nation.  It  was  signed  by  Bishop  Carroll,  and  by  four 
laymen,  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton;  Daniel  Carroll,  Dominick 
Lynch,  and  Thomas  Fitzsimmons.  D drew  from  Washington,  whose 
whole  life  manifests  a sincere  regard  for  Catholics,  a tribute  to  the 
patriotic  part  which  they  took  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  revolu- 
tion and  the  establishment  of  our  government. 

Not  only  in  the  war  of  the  revolution,  but  in  all  the  subsequent 
wars,  the  American  armies  have  swarmed  with  Catholic  soldiers. 
Prior  to  the  revolution  Catholics  had  not  been  permitted  by  the  states 


76 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


to  hold  commissions  as  officers  in  the  state  militia,  and  it  is  wonder- 
ful, under  such  circumstances,  that  so  many  officers  as  I have  named 
were  found  with  experience  or  military  training  to  win  such  honored 
fame  as  did  the  Catholic  officers  in  the  revolution.  But  in  all  our 
subsequent  wars  the  Catholic  body  has  been  as  eminent  for  the 
services  of  accomplished  officers  as  for  the  numbers  of  Catholic 
soldiers,  as  is  witnessed  by  a long  succession  of  gallant  and  skilful 
Catholic  officers  in  every  service;  an  honored  list,  terminating  with 
the  name  of  one  upon  whom,  before  his  recent  death,  a grateful 
country  conferred  the  highest  honors  of  the  army — General  Sheridan. 

In  the  war  of  1812,  the  noblest  outburst  of  patriotism  took  place, 
when  the  Catholics  of  New  Orleans,  headed  by  their  bishop,  Dr.  Du- 
bourg,  welcomed  back  to  the  city,  and  in  their  cathedral  honored 
General  Jackson,  the  victorious  hero  of  the  decisive  battle  of  New 
Orleans.  One  of  the  handsomest  acts  of  patriotism  in  our  history 
occurred,  when  the  American  government,  in  the  Mexican  war, 
asked  through  Archbishop  Hughes  for  two  Catholic  chaplains  to 
accompany  the  armies  to  the  seat  of  war.  The  Society  of  Jesus 
immediately  gave  two  of  its  most  distinguished  members  for  this 
service,  Fathers  Ray  and  McElroy;  the  former  soon  gave  his  life  for 
his  country,  and  the  latter  rendered  long  and  faithful  services,  and 
was  frequently  and  honorably  mentioned  in  the  military  dispatches 
from  the  advancing  armies.  In  our  civil  war,  Catholics,  without 
the  slightest  breach  in  their  unity  of  faith  and  worship,  are  acknowl- 
edged on  both  sides  to  have  been  distinguished  for  the  civil  and 
military  services  they  rendered.  Three  Catholic  bishops,  Bishop 
Lynch,  from  the  south,  and  Archbishop  Hughes  and  Bishop  Domenec, 
from  the  north,  performed  confidential  missions  to  European  powers; 
and  it  is  quite  certain  that  Archbishop  Hughes  succeeded  in  prevent- 
ing France  from  intervening  in  the  struggle,  and  that  Bishop  Dom- 
enec rendered  the  same  service  to  the  Union  in  Spain. 

Loyalty,  both  spiritual  and  political,  is  a Catholic  virtue.  The 
services  rendered  by  Catholics  in  peace  and  war,  in  senate  and  cabi- 
net, prove  the  one,  and  the  devotion  and  support  of  Catholics  towards 
the  Holy  See  attest  the  other.  A Catholic  who  is  true  to  his  faith 
and  to  the  moral  code  of  his  church,  cannot  be  faithless  to  any  civil 
duty,  cannot  be  a traitor  to  his  country.  Perfect  harmony  exists 
between  his  political  and  his  spiritual  loyalty.  While  manifesting 
their  devotion  to  country  in  every  branch  of  service,  and  rejoicing  in 
our  triumph  over  British  armies  that  had  invaded  our  soil,  the  Cath- 
olics of  America  celebrated  in  1814  with  Te  Dcum  in  their  churches 
the  liberation  of  Pope  Pius  VII  from  his  imprisonment  by  Napo- 
leon I,  and  no  Catholics  in  the  world  have  shown  such  resentment  at 
the  Italian  seisure  of  the  papal  states,  and  the  outrages  inflicted  upon 
those  illustrious  popes,  Pius  IX  and  Leo  XIII.  Those  pontiffs 
have  rewarded  the  Catholics  of  America  by  bestowing  the  highest 
honors  of  the  papal  senate,  and  two  eminent  divines,  conscious  of 
their  fidelity  to  their  country,  accepted  the  exalted  position  of 
princes  of  the  church.  Who  is  there  that  could  dare  to  question  the 
patriotism  or  loyalty  of  two  such  citizens  as  Cardinal  McCloskey  or 
Cardinal  Gibbons? 

Scarcely  had  the  first  bishop  been  consecrated  in  1790,  when 
the  Catholic  body  throughout  the  land  gained  new  life,  and  showed 
evidences  of  that  immense  energy  which  has  given  us  the  unpar- 
alleled growth  of  the  century.  Applications  for  pastors  came  to 
Bishop  Carroll  from  his  flocks  in  every  part,  including  the  Indians  of 
Maine,  remnants  of  the  devoted  fold  of  the  martyred  Father  Rale. 
The  examples  of  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  at  Baltimore,  and  of 
Daniel  Carroll,  of  Duddington,  at  Washington,  in  giving  church 
sites,  were  followed  in  many  places  by  zealous  laymen.  In  1790, 
Father  Thayer,  our  earliest  convert,  challenged  inquiry  into  Catho- 
lic faith  and  morals  in  his  native  city  of  Boston,  and  conversions  fol- 
lowed. In  1791  the  Sulpitians  arrived  in  Baltimore,  became  the 
educators  of  the  rising  clergy  at  St.  Mary’s  College,  and  now  various 
dioceses  are  entrusting  them  with  the  same  exalted  duty.  The 
political  troubles  of  Europe  providentially  sent  us  a noble  body  of 
French  clergy,  such  missionaries  as  Flaget,  Dubourg,  Dubois, 
David,  and  Chicoisneau,  followed  by  the  arrival  of  the  Abbes  Leva- 
doux,  Richard,  Ciquard,  Matignon,  Brute,  Cheverus,  and  many 
others.  Illustrious  bishops  have  sprung  from  this  source. 

The  diocese  of  Baltimore  embraced  the  whole  United  States, 
with  the  territories  east  of  the  Mississippi,  but  at  the  north  and 
south  were  territories  either  within  the  disputed  northwestern  bound- 
aries, or  the  extensive  region  of  Louisiana  or  the  Floridas,  then  sub- 
ject to  either  Spanish  or  French  bishops,  which  subsequently  were 
added  to  the  American  church.  The  number  of  churches  in  the 
country,  in  1789,  was  about  thirty.  With  unequalled  energy  and 
generosity  this  small  number  has  within  the  last  100  years  been 
increased  to  about  7,500  churches.  Georgetown  College  was  founded 


by  Bishop  Carroll,  in  1789;  it  was  our  only  college,  and  such  illus- 
trious citizens  as  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  Thomas  Fitzsim- 
mons and  Dominick  Lynch,  were  among  those  who  undertook  to 
collect  and  receive  donations  for  the  institution.  In  the  last  100 
years  we  have  established  about  100  colleges  and  universities.  To 
crown  the  great  work  thus  represented  by  such  institutions  as  the 
universities  of  Georgetown  and  Notre  Dame,  the  Catholics  of  Amer- 
ica have  just  founded  the  American  Catholic  university  at  Washing- 
ton, which  solemnly  opened  this  week.  When  Georgetown  College 
was  founded,  a century  ago,  a donation  of  $100  was  justly  then 
regarded  as  munificent;  now,  such  has  been  the  well  merited  suc- 
cess of  Catholic  industry  and  integrity  in  worldly  pursuits,  that  we 
behold  the  subscription  list  of  the  new  university  headed  with  a 
single  donation  from  a lady,  of  $300,000.  Many  other  munificent 
donations  have  been  received,  and,  no  doubt,  will  be  honorably 
acknowledged  in  due  season. 

A hundred  years  ago  there  was  not  a Catholic  orphan  asylum 
or  hospital  in  the  land;  now  we  have  about  500  asylums  and  hospi- 
tals; also  homes  for  the  aged  and  helpless  of  every  condition,  indus- 
trial and  reform  schools,  retreats  for  every  form  of  misfortune,  ot 
which  there  was  not  one  in  1789,  and  which  are  now  counted  by 
hundreds.  There  was  not  a single  female  academy  at  the  beginning; 
ten  years  ago,  in  1878,  it  was  estimated  that  we  had  525;  the  num- 
ber is  now  probably  700.  Ecclesiastical  institutions  have  increased 
from  one  in  1790  to  thirty-three  in  1878;  now  the  probable  number 
is  fifty.  In  1789  the  number  of  our  churches  was  scarcely  twenty, 
in  1810  we  had  eighty  churches,  in  1820  one  hundred  and  ten,  in 
1830  two  hundred  and  thirty,  in  1840  four  hundred  and  fifty-four,  in 
1850  eleven  hundred,  in  i860  two  thousand  three  hundred  and 
eighty -five,  in  1878  five  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty,  and  in 
1889  probably  seven  thousand  five  hundred  churches.  In  1789  we 
had  one  college,  in  1800  we  had  two,  in  1810  three,  in  1820  fi\>e,  in 
1830  six,  in  1840  nine,  in  1850  seventeen,  in  i860  thirty-four,  in 
1878  seven ty-seven,  in  1889  nearly  one  hundred. 

The  increase  of  colleges,  universities,  and  female  academies 
does  not  show  a tithe  of  what  Catholics  have  done  for  education, 
which  in  all  the  world  has  no  such  friend  as  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  is  the  free  schools  for  the  education  of  the  people  that  show  where 
we  stand,  as  friends  of  popular  education.  The  Catholic  free  school 
is  traced  back  to  very  early  times  in  this  country.  In  the  early  part 
of  the  century  not  only  Catholics,  but  also  Presbyterians,  Episcopal- 
ians and  other  sects  had  schools  of  their  respective  creeds,  and  we 
started  out  generally,  as  far  as  schools  existed,  espousing  the  denom- 
inational school  system,  which  is  based  upon  the  principle  that  it  is 
better  for  Christians  of  every  creed  to  educate  their  children  in  their 
respective  forms  of  Christianity,  than  to  educate  them  with  total 
indifference  to  religion,  which  is  but  little  removed  from  paganism. 
Catholics  have  adhered  to  this,  while  the  sects  have  abandoned  it 
for  the  common  schools.  The  Catholic  schools  increased,  though 
slowly  at  first,  while  Protestant  schools  decreased,  being  merged  in 
the  public  schools,  which  grew  to  be  a national  feature.  By  collect- 
ing an  enforced  tax  from  Catholics,  for  the  support  of  schools  with- 
out religion,  and  to  which  they  cannot  send  their  children,  con- 
science is  trampled  upon.  We  know  that  many  Catholics  are 
unfortunately  in  such  schools — we  cannot  conscientiously  send  our 
children  to  them,  nor  can  we  maintain  such  schools  as  temptations 
for  other  Catholic  children  to  attend.  We  are  not  opposed  to  the 
public  schools  as  such,  but  we  cannot  avail  ourselves  of  them,  and 
the  accusation  that  Catholics  would  destroy  or  get  control  of  them 
is  utterly  destitute  of  truth.  We  simply  claim  that  our  own  money, 
intended  for  the  education  of  our  children  in  the  public  schools,  be 
applied  to  the  support  of  our  own  free  schools  founded  for  the  edu- 
cation of  our  own  children.  Who  can  doubt  the  integrity  of  our 
convictions,  when  they  see  that,  after  paying  our  quota  to  support 
the  public  schools,  we  have  erected  and  now  maintain  nearly  3,250 
Catholic  free  schools,  attended  by  about  600,000  pupils  ? This  grand 
showing  is  mainly  the  work  of  only  a third  of  a century.  So  rapidly 
has  this  great  work  been  accomplished  that  we  may  hope  that  the 
next  ten  years  will  see  parochial  schools  sufficient  for  all  the  Catho- 
lic children  in  America,  and  every  Catholic  child  in  America  attend- 
ing a Catholic  school. 

According  to  the  principles  of  political  economy,  the  greatest 
service  that  can  be  rendered  to  a nation  is  to  increase  its  industrial 
and  producing  population.  Under  this  head  we  can  claim  pre- 
eminence over  every  other  element  of  national  population.  And  as 
we  make  this  review,  one  can  but  be  convinced  that  our  Catholic 
schools  are  inadequate  for  the  Catholic  population  of  the  country, 
and  that  the  imperative  duty  of  providing  schools  presses  us  on 
every  side.  Estimates,  probably  below  the  truth,  inform  us  that 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


77 


the  Catholics  in  the  United  States  in  1776  were  25,000,  or  1-120 
of  the  entire  population;  in  1790  we  had  30,000  (more  probably 
32,000),  or  1-107;  in  1800  we  had  100,000,  or  1-53;  in  1810  we 
had  150,000,  or  1-48;  in  1820  we  had  300,000,  or  1-32;  in  1830 
we  had  600,000,  or  1-21;  in  1840  we  had  1,500,000,  or  1-11;  in 
1850  we  had  3,500,000,  or  1-7;  in  i860,  we  had  4,500,000,  or  1-7; 
and  in  1878  we  had  7,000,000,  or  1-6;  and  now  in  1889  we  have 
10,000,000  or  1-5  of  the  entire  population  of  the  United  States. 

The  expansion  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  in  the  United  States 
is  a majestic  spectacle.  In  1789  we  had  a vicar  apostolic,  who  was 
bishop-elect,  and  was  consecrated  on  August  15,  1790.  To-day  the 
American  Catholic  hierarchy  numbers  thirteen  archbishops  and 
seventy-five  bishops,  including  one  coadjutor  and  the  five  newly 
appointed  bishops.  The  thirty  priests  of  1789  have  been  increased 
to  nearly  8,000  and  1,500  young  Levites  preparing  for  the  priesthood. 
In  1840  we  had  but  one  archbishop,  in  1850  we  had  six,  in  i860  we 
had  seven,  in  1878  eleven,  and  in  1889  thirteen.  I11  1810  we  had 
five  bishops,  in  1820  we  had  six,  in  1830  we  had  nine,  in  1840  we 
had  sixteen,  in  1850  we  had  twenty-seven,  in  i860  we  had  forty-two 
and  in  1878  fifty-seven.  There  are  also  seven  mitred  abbots,  heads 
of  religious  communities,  and  these  are  but  suggestive  of  the  zeal- 
ous and  heroic  religious  orders  and  congregations  of  men  and  women 
counting  many  thousands,  doing  the  work  of  heaven  on  earth.  I11 
1808  the  episcopal  sees  of  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  and 
Bardstown  were  erected,  and  Baltimore  became  a metropolitan  see; 
now  we  have  thirteen  ecclesiastical  provinces  and  metropolitan  sees. 
The  hierarchy  of  archbishops,  bishops,  prelates,  theologians,  priests 
and  officers  has  assembled  three  times  at  Baltimore  in  plenary  coun- 
cils, in  1852  under  the  presidency  of  Archbishop  Kenrick,  in  1866 
under  Archbishop  Spalding  and  in  1884  under  Archbishop  Gibbons. 
In  addition  to  these  plenary  councils,  numerous  provincial  councils 
and  diocesan  synods  have  been  held.  A mass  of  legislation  of  the 
wisest  kind  has  been  enacted  for  the  government  of  the  church, 
which  has  elicited  admiration  at  Rome.  American  bishops  have 
rendered  signal  services  in  the  ecumenical  council  of  the  Vatican 
and  at  other  Roman  consultations.  The  loyalty  of  the  laity  has 
been  well  exemplified  by  their  devout  acceptance  of  the  definitions 
of  the  dogmas  of  the  immaculate  conception  and  of  papal  infallibil- 
ity, and  in  their  docile  support  of  the  decrees  of  the  American 
councils.  Two  American  Catholic  pilgrimages  have  occurred  in  the 
last  fifteen  years,  the  first  in  1874  to  Rome  and  to  the  Grotto  of  Our 
Lady  of  Lourdes,  the  second  in  1889  to  Rome  and  the  Holy  Land. 

Two  golden  events  in  our  history  must  be  mentioned.  In  1815, 
an  American  bishop,  Rt.  Rev.  William  Dubourg,  of  Louisiana, 
founded  at  Lyons  in  France,  while  seeking  aid  for  his  vast  diocese, 
the  noble  and  illustrious  “Association  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Faith  an  organization  which  has  sent  the  faith  into  many  lands. 
In  1829,  Rev.  Frederick  Rese,  afterwards  first  bishop  of  Detroit, 
founded  at  Vienna  the  Leopoldine  Association,  which  had  for  its 
exalted  object  the  support  and  assistance  of  the  American  missions. 

The  accumulation  of  property  for  religious,  educational,  and 
charitable  purposes  has  kept  pace  necessarily  with  the  increase  of 
the  hierarchy  and  of  the  Catholic  population.  The  Catholic  Church 
property  in  the  United  States  is  not  wealth,  as  it  is  termed  by  the 
reports  of  the  census.  Now  immense  as  this  accumulation  seems 
in  figures,  as  long  as  there  are  not  churches  enough  to  accommodate 
the  Catholic  population  at  divine  service,  nor  school-houses  for 
Catholic  children,  and  a struggle  for  existence  is  going  on  in  so 
many  dioceses,  parishes,  and  institutions,  wealth  cannot  be  an  element 
of  the  status;  for  wealth  is  accumulated,  or  surplus,  capital.  I 
refer  to  the  figures  supplied  by  the  Census  Bureau  as  demonstrative 
of  a healthy  and  continuous  growth  in  the  exalted  mission  01 
Christianity.  The  value  of  the  entire  property  of  the  United  States 
in  1850  was  $7, 135,780,228,  in  i860,  $16, 159,616,668;  in  1870,  $30,- 
668,518,507.  The  increase  from  1850  to  i860  was  about  125  per 
cent,  and  from  i860  to  1870  it  was  86  per  cent.  The  value  of  the 
Catholic  Church  property  in  1850  was  $9,256,758;  in  i860  it  was 
$26,794,119;  in  1870  it  was  $60,985,565.  The  increase  from  1850 
to  i860  was  about  189  per  cent,  and  from  i860  to  1870  it  was  128  per 
cent.  So  that  while  the  increase  in  the  national  property  during 
the  first  two  decades  named  was  125  per  cent,  the  increase  in  Cath- 
olic Church  property  was  189  per  cent;  and  in  the  second  decade 
the  wealth  of  the  nation  increased  86  per  cent;  that  of  the  Catholic 
Church  gained  128  per  cent. 

I had  intended,  but  must  from  want  of  space  and  time  refrain 
from  giving  the  history  of  the  various  nationalities  that  go  to  form 
our  Catholic  population,  and  the  sources  of  our  great  increase,  the 
principal  of  which  is  immigration.  Some  idea  can  be  formed,  though 
inadequately,  of  the  immensity  of  Catholic  immigration  from  the  fact 


that  during  the  thirty  years  prior  to  1876,  the  Irish  immigration  alone 
was  2,001,727.  German  Catholic  immigration  comes  next  in  numbers. 
But  the  subject  is  too  vast.  Among  the  lessons  of  this  history  can 
be  profitably  mentioned  that  the  Catholic  Church  embraces  all 
nations,  but  it  is  of  no  nation.  One  of  the  best  services  Catholics 
can  render  to  their  church  and  their  country  is  to  give  all  their 
energies  to  the  great  work  of  uniting  all  nationalities  into  one  har- 
monious whole;  and  let  it  be  their  highest  ambition  to  be  at  once 
Catholics  and  Americans. 

Catholics  have  gained  largely  by  conversions  from  Protestantism 
from  the  time  Father  Thayer  returned  as  a Catholic  priest  to  his 
native  city  of  Boston  in  1790  to  the  present  time;  but  the  fifty  year^ 
from  1825  to  1875  was  the  period  of  most  conversions;  and  the  two 
extremes— Episcopalianism  and  Unitarianism  have  been  the  prin- 
cipal sources  of  conversions.  Scarcely  an  American  family  of  emi- 
nence is  without  its  Catholic  converts,  from  the  conversion  of  Miss 
Fanny  Allen,  daughter  of  Gen.  Ethan  Allen,  in  1807,  to  the  more 
recent  conversion  of  a daughter  of  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  in  our  day. 
A list  of  prominent  converts  lately  published  contains  nearly  700 
names.  Fuller  statistics  might  have  swelled  the  number  to  prob- 
ably 2,000.  Among  our  converts  were  Archbishops  Eccleston,  Bay- 
ley,  and  Wood,  and  Bishops  Tyler,  Young,  Rosecranz.  Gilmour, 
Becker,  Wadhams,  and  Curtis,  besides  members  of  the  clergy  too 
numerous  to  be  named.  Pour  converts — Mrs.  Seton,  Mrs.  Connolly, 
Mrs.  vStarr  and  B'ather  Hecker  -have  rendered  eminent  services  to 
religion  and  charity  by  founding  religious  communities.  From 
casual  reports  it  is  evident  that  conversions  have  been  numerous.  I11 
1853  Archbishop  Hughes  confirmed  236  persons  in  New  York,  of 
whom  thirty-six  were  converts.  Out  of  sixty-five  confirmed  on  one 
occasion  in  Ohio  nine  were  converts.  Archbishop  Henni,  of  Mil- 
waukee, confirmed  on  one  day  150,  of  whom  twenty-two  were  con- 
verts. Archbishop  Kenrick,  of  Baltimore,  confirmed  once  154,  of 
whom  twenty-five  were  converts.  During  a period  of  five  years 
Archbishop  Spalding,  of  Baltimore,  confirmed  22,209  persons,  ol 
whom  2,752  were  converts.  We  have  an  account  of  an  entire  con- 
gregation in  North  Carolina  composed  of  converts.  In  some  dioceses 
the  proportion  of  converts  among  those  confirmed  is  placed  at  five 
per  cent;  in  others  at  seven  per  cent;  and  in  others  as  high  as 
twelve  per  cent.  American  converts  have  rendered  eminent  services 
to  religion,  education,  and  charity,  and  have  been  distinguished  as 
writers  in  theology,  history,  fiction,  and  spirituality.  Would  that  I 
could  name  them  all.  Among  our  converts  was  Hon.  Thomas  Sim 
Lee,  a revolutionary  patriot,  a friend  of  Washington,  and  member  of 
the  Continental  Congress.  A remarkable  conversion  was  that  of  the 
first  Protestant  bishop  who  became  reconciled  to  the  church  since 
the  Reformation,  Dr.  Levi  Silliman  Ives,  who  laid  his  episcopal 
ring  at  the  feet  of  Pope  Pius  IX.  Devoting  himself  to  Catholic 
works,  Dr.  Ives  crowned  his  noble  career  by  founding  the  New  York 
Catholic  Protectory,  which  in  its  past  and  present  admirable  man- 
agement, and  in  the  number  of  children  of  both  sexes  it  has  restored 
to  good  citizenship  and  to  religious  lives,  has  scarcely  an  equal,  and 
has  served  as  the  model  of  similar  institutions  in  other  dioceses. 
Preeminent  among  Catholic  converts,  for  his  great  learning  and 
powerful  intellect,  his  child-like  faith,  his  championship  of  the 
truth,  his  command  of  the  purest  and  strongest  English,  and  his  vo- 
luminous and  matchless  writings,  stands  the  name  of  Orestes  A. 
Brownson.  Eulogy  is  silenced  before  so  great  a man.  The  Cath- 
olics of  America  will  show  their  gratitude  and  admiration  by  sus- 
taining the  movement  for  erecting  a statue  in  Central  Park  to  this 
illustrious  Catholic. 

Catholics  have  made  a brave  struggle  to  carry  and  sustain 
Christianity  among  the  Indians,  for  whose  salvation  so  many  early 
Catholic  missionaries  heroically  labored  and  gave  their  lives.  At 
the  consecration  of  Bishop  Carroll,  in  1790,  the  Indian  missions,  for 
which  such  treasures  of  zeal  and  blood  had  been  spent,  were  almost 
wholly  suspended  or  destroyed;  but  that  noble  prelate  recommenced 
the  apostolic  work,  and  under  Washington’s  administration  secured 
from  the  government  the  appointment  of  a Catholic  chaplain  for 
Catholic  Indians.  He  revived  the  Indian  missions  in  Maine  and 
other  parts,  and  what  he  commenced  was  carried  forward  in  our  day 
by  successive  prelates  and  priests,  prominent  among  whom  were 
Bishops  Miege,  in  the  Indian  Territory,  Baraga,  in  Michigan,  and 
Blanchet  and  Seghers,  in  Oregon  and  Alaska,  and  Father  De  Smet, 
in  the  Rock}'  Mountains.  Recognized  by  our  government  as  nations 
with  whom  treaties  are  made,  the  Indians  are  treated  as  subjects 
under  the  designation  of  wards  of  the  nation,  and  not  as  freemen. 
Religious  liberty  is  not  one  of  the  rights  accorded  to  them.  Under 
General  Grant’s  administration  the  tribes  were  parcelled  out  for 
religious  and  educational  service  among  various  religious  bodies, 


78 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


and  we  then  saw  Catholic  Indians  assigned  to  non-Catholic  ministers 
and  teachers.  The  present  administration  is  apparently  on  the  eve 
of  discontinuing  this  arrangement  by  adopting  a worse  system,  that 
of  governmental  free  schools,  from  which,  no  doubt,  all  Christianity 
will  be  excluded. 

The  Catholic  colored  people  have  shared  also  the  solicitude  oi 
mother  church.  The  priests  of  St.  Joseph  founded  in  England,  in 
1867,  sent  their  first  missionaries  to  America  in  1871.  I regret  that 
I cannot  give  in  detail  this  interesting  chapter  in  the  Catholic  his- 
tory of  our  country.  But  the  work  is  going  on — churches  for  col- 
ored people  have  been  provided  in  Baltimore,  Washington,  Charles- 
ton, New  York,  and  other  cities,  and  the  plan  of  training  priests  of 
their  own  color  has  been  inaugurated.  A Catholic  bureau  of  Indian 
missions  was  founded  at  Washington  in  1874,  and  a commission  for 
the  Catholic  missions  among  the  Indians  and  colored  people  has 
been  established  at  Baltimore,  and  charged  with  the  distribution  of 
the  annual  collections  taken  up  in  all  the  churches  by  order  of  the 
third  plenary  council. 

The  growth  of  church  property  in  the  United  States  has  kept 
pace  with  the  improved  condition  of  Catholics  in  temporal  prosper- 
ity. The  struggles  of  our  population  for  life  and  success  in  the 
most  active  competition, perhaps,  in  the  history  of  our  race,  accounted 
probably  for  the  absence,  in  the  past,  of  generous  endowments  of 
churches  and  institutions.  But  that  feature  of  Catholic  life  is  now 
passing  away,  for  the  Catholic  body  now  numbers  its  millionaires, 
and  ■ munificence  is  now  becoming  a Catholic  virtue  in  America. 
Not  only  have  we  witnessed  the  princely  generosity  of  Catholics  to 
their  university,  but  I could  mention  other  cases  of  Catholic  munifi- 
cence, now  crowning  the  century’s  work  of  the  poor  who,  by  their 
small,  but  frequent  gifts,  have  heretofore  built  our  churches  and 
institutions  of  education  and  charity.  In  New  York  diocese  a lady 
is  building  a splendid  church  entirely  at  her  own  expense.  In 
the  diocese  of  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Cahill  devoted  nearly  $500,000  to 
works  of  charity.  Mr.  Francis  A.  Drexell  gave  by  his  will  to  the 
institutions  of  the  same  diocese,  the  munificent  sum  of  .$1,500- 
000,  and  since  his  death  the  industrial  school  at  Eddington,  Bucks 
county,  has  been  founded  by  a daughter  of  Mr.  Drexell,  at  an 
expense  of  $800,000,  while  another  daugeter  has  expended  on  the 
Indian  churches  and  schools  in  the  Indian  reservations,  in  a 
single  year,  nearly  $100,000.  Similar  acts  of  munificence 
have  been  done  in  other  dioceses  — but  so  far  Philadelphia  is 
the  banner  diocese.  A great  work  of  distinctively  Catholic  charity 
is  carried  on  in  nearly  every  diocese  by  Catholic  laymen  in  the  soci- 
ety of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul,  of  which  there  are  many  hundred  con- 
ferences, improving  and  relieving  the  moral  and  temporal  condition 
of  the  poor,  without  distinction  of  creed. 

The  church  in  America  has  produced  a rich  literature,  and  many 
distinguished  scholars  and  authors.  C.  Talbot,  1784,  was  the  first 
publisher  of  Catholic  books.  Bernand  Dornin,  of  New  York,  1805-9, 
was  the  first  exclusively  Catholic  publisher,  and  Matthew  Carey, 
1789-1839,  was  so  eminent  as  publisher  and  writer  that  Father  Fi- 
notti,  in  his  Bibliographia  Catholica  Americana,  applied  to  him  the 
language,  “ A printer,  a bookseller,  a poet,  a writer  and  publicist, 
an  editor,  a philanthropist,  and  a patriot.”  From  that  time  to  1866, 
when  Father  Hecker  founded  the  Catholic  Publication  Society,  and 
to  the  present,  Catholic  publication  has  grown  into  a vast  and  per- 
manent business. 

Many  learned  and  elegant  writers  have  graced  our  literature. 
I should  mention  Rev.  Charles  Constantine  Pise,  novelist  and  poet; 
Father  Fredet,  author  of  school  histories;  James  McSherry,  historian 
of  Maryland;  John  Augustus  Shea,  poet ; Robert  Walsh,  essayist; 
Bishop  England,  grand  in  his  miscellaneous  writings  on  Catholic 
subjects;  Dr.  E.  B.  O’Callaghan  and  Bernard  U.  Campbell,  histor- 
ians ; Archbishop  Spalding,  author  of  historical  and  miscellaneous 
works  ; Archbishop  Bayley,  historical  writer  ; Father  De  Smet,  mis- 
sionary and  historian  of  missions  ; James  F.  Meline,  author  of  his- 
tory and  fiction  ; Rev.  Charles  I.  White,  biographer  of  Mother  Seton  ; 
Gay arre,  historian  of  Louisiana;  Rev.  Joseph  F.  Finotti,  Catholic 
bibliographer ; Fathers  Hecker  and  Hewit,  authors  of  spiritual 
works  ; Rev.  James  Kent  Stone,  author  of  ‘ ‘ The  Invitation  Heeded;” 
John  R.  G.  Hassard,  historian  and  journalist;  James  A.  Mc- 
Master,  Patrick  Valentine  Hickey  and  Mr.  Barr,  of  Pittsburgh,  emi- 
nent as  journalists.  In  fiction  we  have  Dr.  Bryant,  Dr.  J.  V.  Hunt- 
ington, Rev.  B.  J.  O’Reilly,  Rev.  Donald  X.  McLeod.  In  fiction 
and  drama,  George  H.  Miles,  and  in  general  literature,  Maurice 
Francis  Egan. 

Among  dogmatic,  theological,  and  spiritual  writers,  Archbishop 


Kenrick,  of  Baltimore,  has  produced  standard  theological  and  script- 
ural works  of  high  authority,  and  in  this  department  we  have  such 
writers  as  Father  Hecker,  Hewit,  McLeod,  Preston,  Walworth, 
Weninger,  James  Kent  Stone,  Father  Thebaud,  and  the  popular 
and  useful  works  of  Cardinal  Gibbonh.  As  a reviewer,  Dr.  Brownson 
stands  preeminent,  and  as  a Catholic  historian  and  scholar  the  first 
place  is  deservedly  accorded  to  our  learned  and  distinguished  con- 
temporary, Dr.  John  Gilmary  Shea.  Among  the  ablest  essayists  of 
our  times,  I should  mention  Bishops  Lynch  and  Becker,  Father 
Thebaud,  and  Dr.  Janies  A.  Corcoran.  In  poetry  we  can  mention 
Abbe  Rouquette,  of  New  Orleans,  Father  Ryan  of  Virginia, 
Tohn  Savage  and  John  Boyle  O’Reilly;  in  astronomy,  Father  Curley, 
late  of  Georgetown  College;  in  military  engineering,  Generals 
Charles  P.  Stone  and  John  Newton;  in  mathematics,  Father  Sestini, 
S.  J.;  in  architecture,  Patrick  Keilly,  of  Brooklyn,  and  in  oratory, 
Bishop  England,  of  Charleston,  Archbishop  Hughes,  of  New  York, 
and  Archbishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia. 

Justice  requires  that  separate  and  special  mention  should  be 
made  of  the  noble  work  done  in  America  by  Catholic  women.  Here 
I wTould  mention  Grace  Newton  Simpson,  of  Kentucky,  who,  in 
1809-36,  so  ably  explained  Catholic  tenets  as  to  lead  many  converts 
to  tire  church.  Mrs.  Sarah  Peter,  of  Ohio,  stands  out  preeminent 
among  American  women  for  her  noble  works  of  charity  and  philan- 
thropy. She  was  a convert  to  our  faith.  She  devoted  her  wealth 
and  her  life  to  the  highest  purposes.  In  1850  she  founded  the  School 
of  Design  for  -women  in  Philadelphia;  in  1853  she  established  a 
Ladies’  Academy  of  Art  at  Cincinnati,  for  which  she  purchased 
costly  pictures  and  statuary  in  Europe  ; in  Cincinnati  she  founded 
several  sisterhoods,  and  several  convents  in  Philadelphia.  She  was 
honored  by  Pius  IX,  to  whom  she  paid  several  special  visits  in  the 
interests  of  her  works.  Mrs.  General  Sherman  won  honors  at  home 
and  from  Rome  for  her  heroic  labors  in  behalf  of  the  Indians. 
Among  Catholic  authors  I should  name  Mrs.  Anna  H.  Dorsey,  Mrs. 
Mary  A.  Sadlier,  Miss  Mary  A.  Hoffman,  Miss  M.  A.  Tinker,  Miss 
Eleanor  C.  Donnelly  Madame  Le  Vert,  of  Alabama,  Mrs.  Sarah  M. 
Brownson  Tenney,  daughter  of  the  illustrious  Dr.  Brownson,  Miss 
Hemmenway,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  F.  Ellet,who  published  several  learned 
and  authentic  histories  of  the  revolutionary  period,  and  Miss  Eliza 
Allen  Starr,  author  of  the  beautiful  volumes  on  ‘‘Pilgrims  and 
Shrines  ’ ’ and  on  ‘ ‘ Patron  Saints,  ’ ’ but  yet  more  distinguished  as  the 
most  accomplished  lecturer  in  America  on  Christian  art,  the  first 
lady  to  whom  was  awarded  the  Laetare  medal  by  the  university  of 
Notre  Dame. 

I cannot  close  this  hurried  paper  without  a brief  word  on  Cath- 
olic losses  and  needs,  perhaps  the  most  instructive  part  of  our  his- 
tory. Catholic  populations  coming  from  Europe  to  America  have 
been  much  exposed  to  the  loss  of  their  faith.  The  losses  from  this 
source  have  been  immeasurably  greater  than  the  gains  from  conver- 
sions, and  some  have  thought  that  we  have  lost  more  than  half  of 
our  immigrant  population  or  their  descendants.  In  fact,  the  Catho- 
lic body  has  been  a great  loser  in  the  final  result.  Our  losses  com- 
menced before  the  revolution,  as  shown  by  numerous  instances  in 
which  distinguished  Protestant  families  bear  Catholic  names.  From 
this  evident  source  of  loss,  it  would  be  a sad  narrative  if  we  could 
give  the  statistics  of  losses  during  and  since  the  periods  of  great 
immigration.  I can  only  mention  now  what  Bishop  England  said. 
He  estimated  the  number  of  Catholics  in  his  own  diocese  of  Charles- 
ton in  1836  at  12,000,  and  the  descendants  of  Catholics  who  were 
then  Protestants  he  named  at  38,000  or  40,000,  and  he  expressed 
the  conviction  that  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States 
during  the  fifty  years  from  1786  to  1836  had  lost  millions  of  mem- 
bers. 

To  summarize  briefly  the  lessons  taught  by  our  century’s  his- 
tory, I would  say  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Catholics  in  our  day  to 
provide  the  means  of  preventing  the  loss  of  faith  by  Catholics,  from 
whatever  causes,  to  recover  as  far  as  possible  from  our  losses,  to  pro- 
vide Catholic  free  schools  for  all  the  Catholic  children  in  the  land, 
to  present  to  the  American  people  a firm  and  persevering  claim  for 
fair  play  in  the  matter  of  educating  our  children,  to  claim  for  Cath- 
olic Indians  freedom  of  religion  and  education,  and  free  access  to 
them  by  Catholic  missionaries,  to  provide  the  means  of  evangelizing 
the  colored  population,  to  claim  from  the  government  Catholic  chap- 
lains for  the  Catholic  soldiers  and  sailors  in  the  sendee,  and  from 
the  state  governments  freedom  of  worship  for  Catholic  inmates  of 
all  public  institutions,  and  to  keep  up  a perpetual  crusade  against 
intemperance.  The  greatest  element  of  success  in  these  noble  works 
is  Union  among  Catholics. 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


79 


CHURCH  MUSIC. 

THIRTEENTH  REGULAR  PAPER,  BY  TROF.  HEMAN  ALLEN,  A.,  M. 

OF  CHICAGO,  ILL. 

What  is  church  music?  Is  it  the  music  we  hear  everywhere 
around  us,  and  called  “church  music’’  merely  when  it  is  sung  in 
churches  ? or  is  it  a style  of  music  peculiarly  designed  and  adapted 
for  the  church,  the  house  of  God  ? A visitor  to  one  of  our  Catholic 
churches,  who  had  not  given  any  thought  to  the  subject,  might 
answer,  ‘ • the  former.  ’ ’ For  he  would  hear  there  precisely , or  almost 
precisely,  the  style  of  music  he  may  have  heard  the  evening  before, 
in  the  concert  hall,  the  theatre,  or  the  opera  house.  But  is  this 
church  music.?  Was  it  this  music,  which  Jesus  and  his  disciples 
sung,  as  St.  Mark  tells  us,  before  they  went  forth  to  the  Mount  of 
Olives  ? Surely  not.  It  would  be  blasphemy  for  us  to  say  so,  and 
we  cannot  even  entertain  the  idea  of  it  for  a moment. 

What,  then,  is  church  music  ? Are  there  rules  which  prescribe 
what  music  shall  be  sung  in  the  church  ? And  are  there  marks, 
by  which  we  shall  know  it  ? There  are  both  rules  to  teach,  and 
marks  to  guide  us.  At  first,  any  rule  must  have  been  unnecessary, 
so  long  as  the  memory  or  tradition  of  that  heavenly  hymn  was  pre- 
served among  Christians;  but,  as  the  people  became  lukewarm,  and 
more  “ of  the  earth,  earthy,’’  so  music  degenerated  more  and  more. 
But  these  beginnings  of  abuses  in  her  music  did  not  escape  the  watch- 
ful eye  of  our  mother,  the  church.  She  preserved,  and  ever  will 
preserve,  the  divine  traditions,  handed  down  by  the  successors  of 
Jesus  and  his  disciples,  namely,  her  popes  and  bishops,  and  she  began 
early  to  reform;  lavare  quod  est  sordidum,  regere  quod  est  deviurn  ; 
and  to  prescribe  rules  for  the  guidance  of  her  children.  And  she 
has  never  wanted  in  children  who  were  ready  to  follow  and  teach 
her  rules.  Witness  the  labors  of  St.  Athanasius  and  of  St.  Ambrose, 
in  the  fourth  century,  of  St.  Gregory,  in  the  sixth,  and  of  those 
illustrious  reformers  of  the  sixteenth,  who  gave  us  the  heavenly 
music  of  Palestrina  and  his  school,  as  a complement  to  that  inspired 
music,  the  only  music  which  the  church  claims  as  her  own,  the 
Gregorian.  And  now  we  are  in  the  midst  of  perhaps  the  most 
important,  wide-spread,  reform  of  all;  that  great  movement  inaugur- 
ated twenty  years  ago,  by  the  Caecilia  Verein,  in  Germany,  and 
afterwards,  by  the  Caecilia  Society  in  America.  The  following 
beautiful  thoughts  on  our  subject,  are  from  the  pen  of  the  zealous 
and  gifted  president  of  the  American  Caecilia  Verein,  Chevalier  John 
Singenberger: 

‘ 1 Church  music  is  a prayer,  the  prayer  of  the  church  in  the 
solemn  form  of  song,  the  liturgical  prayer,  not  the  prayer  or  senti- 
ment of  any  individual  member  of  the  church.  As  the  liturgy  is 
dictated  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  is  the  prayer,  and  the  melody  of 
the  prayer,  in  the  liturgy.  And  this  prayer  we  must  take  and 
sing  in  the  spirit  and  with  the  sentiments  of  the  church.  The 
church  must  be  our. teacher  in  this  regard,  as  in  everything  else. 
She  therefore  gives  us  rules  which  we  are  bound  to  obey,  as  well 
as  any  other  of  her  rules.  The  Catholic  cannot,  like  the  Protestant, 
interpret  these  rules  in  his  own  way.  If  we  do  not  follow  the 
church,  we  are  not  good  children  of  the  church.  No  one  is  exempt 
from  obedience.  But,  in  fact,  these  rules  are  so  natural,  so  appar- 
ent, and  so  necessary,  that  a true  Catholic  would  discover  and 
follow  them,  even  if  they  had  never  been  formally  declared.  If 
there  were  more  true  faith  in  our  times,  there  would  be  more 
obedience  to  the  church,  and  a better  church  music;  and  therefore, 
to  reform  and  cultivate  church  music,  is  to  make  Catholics  more 
faithful  and  more  obedient  to  the  church,  to  enable  them  better  to 
understand  and  live  up  to  the  spirit  of  the  church,  and  of  the  eccles- 
iastical year,  and,  as  Bishop  Marty  has  said,  ‘ To  make  the  divine 
service  more  useful  to  them,  to  work  out  the  salvation  of  their  souls.’ 
On  the  other  hand,  to  indulge  in  music  which  is  not  church  music, 
and  to  tolerate  abuses  because  some  are  accustomed  to  them,  and 
like  them,  is  to  work  against  the  will  of  the  church,  and,  therefore, 
against  the  salvation  of  our  souls.  McMaster  has  said  that  ‘ much 
so-called  church  music  is  indeed  devils’  music.’  ’’ 

True  church  music  is,  therefore,  the  music  which  the  church 
approves  of,  recommends,  or  permits.  No  other  music,  however 
beautiful,  or  faultlessly  composed,  can  claim  the  title  of  church 
music.  Now  the  church  approves  most  emphatically  of  Gregorian 
music,  she  recommends  polyphonic  music,  d la  Palestrina,  and  per- 
mits modern  music,  in  so  far  as  it  obeys  her  regulations  laid  down 
at  different  times.  Among  these  regulations  are  the  following  im- 
portant ones:  (a)  The  words  of  the  text  must  come  in  the  order 
which  is  given  in  the  missal,  or  graduale.  (b)  In  a musical  phrase, 
the  sacred  text  must  not  be  shortened,  or  transposed,  or  lengthened, 


by  too  frequent  repetitions,  (c)  Not  a word  is  to  be  added  to  or  left 
out  of  the  text.  ( d ) Arias,  duets,  trios,  etc.,  are  forbidden,  as  also 
recitative.  ( e ) It  is  forbidden,  where  it  is  possible  to  avoid  it,  to 
sing  different  words  at  the  same  time  at  Mass  or  at  any  other  serv- 
ice; for  the  words  must  be  distinctly  heard,  (f)  It  is  forbidden  to 
introduce  into  a church  composition  any  gay  or  lascivious  music, 
music  of  the  concert  hall,  the  theatre,  or  the  opera  house,  (g)  No 
instruments  but  the  organ  are  allowed,  unless  by  the  consent  of  the 
bishop. 

It  remains  for  us  to  decide  which  style  of  music  obeys  these 
regulations,  and  which  does  not,  and  then  we  shall  know  which  is 
the  true  church  music. 

No  one  can  deny  that  the  Gregorian  chant  obeys  them  in  every 
particular;  and  again  and  again  has  the  church  claimed  this  as  her 
own  and  favorite  music.  It  is  the  darling  child,  the  Benjamin  of 
the  church.  Pope  Benedict  XIV,  speaking  of  it,  says:“  The  Gre- 
gorian chant  is  that  song  which  excites  the  minds  of  the  faithful 
to  piety  and  devotion;  it  is  that  music,  therefore,  which,  if  sung  in 
our  churches  with  care  and  decorum,  is  most  willingly  heard  by 
devout  persons,  and  is  justly  preferred  to  that  which  is  called  figured, 
or  harmonized  music.  The  titillation  of  figured  music  is  held  very 
cheaply  by  men  of  religious  mind,  in  comparison  with  the  sweetness 
of  the  church  chant,  and  hence  it  is  that  the  people  flock  to  the 
churches  of  the  monks,  who,  taking  piety  for  their  guide,  in  singing 
the  praises  of  God,  after  the  counsel  of  the  prince  of  psalmists,  skil- 
fully sing  to  their  Lord  as  Lord,  and  serve  God  as  God,  with  the 
utmost  reverence.  ’ ’ 

Dom  Pothier,  that  great  authority  on  plain  chant,  says  of  it: 
“These  melodies  are  so  far  bej^ond  comparison,  that  the  ancient 
Christians  did  not  hesitate  to  look  upon  them  as  the  work  of  divine 
inspiration,  and  there  can,  indeed,  be  no  doubt  that  they  interpret 
the  sacred  words  better  than  the  best  compositions  of  modern  musical 
art.  For  they  express  most  accurately  the  thoughts  and  sentiments 
of  the  church,  and  elicit  more  profound,  more  solemn,  and  holier 
emotions  in  the  soul  of  man.  Though,  on  account  of  their  forms,  which 
for  centuries  have  ever  remained  the  same,  they  may  appear  rather 
strange  at  first  sight,  yet  for  him  who  has  learned  to  appreciate  and 
understand  them,  they  will  soon  be  a source  of  joys  of  a superior 
order.  ’ ’ 

Beautifully,  also,  does  Maurice  Vogt  write:  “These  fixed,  meas- 
ured, emphatic,  sublime,  true,  chaste,  free-breathing,  beautiful,  and  truly 
holy  melodies  have  been  composed  by  holy  men.  The  song  eschews 
the  court  of  the  prince,  and  never  enters  the  concert  hall  or  music 
saloon;  it  ventures  within  the  holy  of  holies  and  abides  there.  No 
one  has  ever  sought  to  drive  it  out  of  the  church  of  God,  unless  he 
did  not  belong  to  the  house  of  God.  This  music  has  ever  com- 
manded honor  and  esteem,  because,  like  a queen,  she  sets  up  her 
throne  in  the  temples  of  the  Most  High,  and  with  a clear  voice 
makes  herself  heard  when  the  preacher  is  silent  in  the  sanctuary.” 

And,  to  quote  one  more  lover  of  plain  chant,  Dr.  Witt,  late 
president  of  the  German  Caecilia  Verein,  says:  “It  is  my  opinion 
that  the  Gregorian  music  is,  in  its  way,  as  perfect  a masterpiece  as 
a symphony  of  Beethoven,  or  the  Don  Giovanni  of  Mozart,  in  their 
way,  and  that  the  Missa  Papa;  Marcelli , composed  in  1565,  is  just  as 
precious  and  imperishable  as  the  Freischiitz  of  C.  M.  von  Weber.” 
And  he  goes  on  to  say  that  it  is  absurd  to  assert,  that  because  an  art 
is  old,  it  is  inferior.  For  is  not  Homer  as  great  at  least,  as  Goethe, 
and  who  has  ever  excelled  the  sculptors  of  ancient  Greece  ? 

Pius  IX  was  an  ardent  apostle  of  Gregorian  chant,  and  when 
he  established  the  Seminario  Pio,  he  ordered  that  the  students  should 
be  taught  the  Gregorian  chant,  ‘ ‘ to  the  exclusion  of  all  other 
music.” 

It  is  hard  to  stop  speaking  of  such  an  inspiring  subject;  but  this 
paper  is  to  be  confined  to  one  volume,  and  we  have  other  things 
to  consider  yet.  After  admiring  that  eldest  and  favorite  child  of  the 
church,  let  us  contemplate  another  well  beloved  one,  the  music, 
namely,  of  Palestrina,  princcps  musicee , and  of  his  followers,  called, 
on  account  of  its  imitation  of  that  great  master,  Alla  Palestrina. 

As  is  well  known,  we  owe  the  wonderful  church  music  of  Pa- 
lestrina, and  all  the  beautiful  music  of  that  school  called  Alla  Pa- 
lestrina,, to  that  famous  decision  of  cardinals  in  the  days  of  Pius 
IV,  headed  by  Vitellozzo  Vitelli  and  Carlo  Borromeo,  a decision 
which  sounded  the  death  knell  of  all  “figured”  church  music, 
unless  it  could  be  made  to  conform  to  the  rules  of  the  church,  and 
especially  unless  it  could  be  so  written  that  the  words  of  the  sacred 
text  could  be  distinctly  understood.  We  know  how  a committee  of 
the  best  musicians  of  the  day,  to  whom  this  decision  was  announced, 
declared  that  it  was  impossible  to  compose  a long  composition  of  any 
merit  with  the  necessary  “imitations”  and  “fugues,”  so  that  the 


8o 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


words  could  be  distinctly  understood;  and  we  know  how  Palestrina, 
when  applied  to  to  compose  a Mass,  which  should  comply  with  these 
conditions,  lifted  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  prayed,  Domine  illumina 
oculos  meos , and  that  the  result  of  his  prayers  and  of  his  efforts  was 
the  production  of  those  immortal  masterpieces  of  church  music,  of 
which  the  Missa  Papa  Marcelli  is  so  famous.  As  Rev.  Carl  Becker 
says:  “The  success  was  decisive.  The  committee  of  cardinals 
declared  that  they  could  not  find  a cause  to  make  a change  in 
church  music;  that  the  singers,  however,  should  always  be  cautious 
to  select  similar  music  for  the  divine  service  to  that  which  they  had 
just  heard.  In  these  words  the  authorized  committee  sanctioned 
and  recommended  that  style  of  music,  which  indeed  was  not  in- 
vented by  Palestrina,  and  for  this  reason  may  be  rightly  termed  the 
Palestrina  style.” 

The  same  writer  says:  “ The  music  of  Palestrina  has  been  said 
to  be  ‘entirely  unlike  the  Gregorian,’  while  it  is  acknowledged  by 
competent  authorities  that  the  Gregorian  is  the  foundation  of  Pale- 
strina’s music.  And  how  could  it  be  otherwise  ? It  was  Palestrina 
who,  upon  the  injunction  of  Pope  Gregory  XIII,  commenced  the 
vast  work  of  the  revision  of  the  Directorium  Chori,  according  to  the 
oldest  and  best  codices  of  the  Vatican.  How  could  Palestrina  com- 
pose otherwise  than  in  the  spirit  of  the  Gregorian  in  the  study  of 
which  he  was  engaged  all  his  life?  It  is  true,  Palestrina’s  music  is 
unlike  the  Gregorian,  inasmuch  as  the  rhythm  is  that  of  figured 
music,  but  the  spirit  and  the  melody  are  either  the  same  or  analogous.  ’ ’ 

The  historian  Ambros,  quoted  by  Father  Becker,  says:  “It  is 
no  music  for  the  concert  hall  or  the  musical  academy.  * * * It 

is  music  for  the  church,  for  divine  service,  for  the  ecclesiastical  year, 
with  its  feasts  and  seasons,  with  its  days  of  sorrow,  consolation,  joy, 
solemnity,  thanksgiving,  and  adoration.”  And  Dr.  Witt  says:  “The 
sixteenth  century  is  an  epoch  in  art,  which  developed  one  style  of 
music,  and  of  musical  composition,  which,  indeed,  was  not  invented, 
but  perfected  by  Palestrina,  in  such  a marvellous  manner  that  I 
cannot  think  further  progress  in  that  particular  direction  is  possible.  " 
“We  shall  never  forget,”  said  an  eminent  German  musician,  speak- 
ing of  the  first  performance  of  the  Caecilia  Yerein,  “the  Mass,  Qui 
Complerentur,  by  Palestrina,  the  Miserere , or  the  Missa  pro  Defunc- 
tis,  by  Vittoria.” 

If  time  permitted,  we  might  examine  exquisite  Masses  and 
motettes  of  Orlando  Lasso,  Vittoria,  Auerio,  Croce,  Handel,  Hassler, 
Suriano,  Casciolini,  and  others,  but  we  must  leave  them,  and  give  a 
hasty  glance  at  those  of  a few  of  the  great  composers  of  the  Caecilia 
Verein,  of  Dr.  Witt,  Carl  Greitli,  Adolph  Kaim,  etc. 

The  Loudon  Tablet  said,  several  years  ago  of  this  music:  “The 
music  of  the  Ratisbonne  school  of  composers  is  a revelation.  Com- 
pletely free  from  dramatical  effects,  pompousness,  chromatic  wailing, 
and  hysterical  sentimentality,  its  effect  is  marvellous.  Those  who 
have  never  heard  anything  but  church  music  in  the  secular  style, 
will  be  amazed  at  the  wondrous  power  of  the  divine  art,  inspired  by 
the  power  of  the  liturgy.  It  must  be  confessed  that  music  of  this 
kind  completely  spoils  one  for  the  productions  of  those  who  insist 
upon  employing  abstract  music  in  churches.  * * * The  drift  of 

all  the  instructions  issued  by  the  pope,  provincial  councils,  and  indi- 
vidual bishops,  is  not  art  alone,  and  for  itself,  but  art  in  union  with 
the  liturgy.  Dr.  Witt’s  music  exactly  carries  out  this  idea.  When 
we  hear  it,  we  hear  the  church’s  prayer,  not  Dr.  Witt’s,  and  this  is 
the  object  of  ecclesiastical  music.  It  proves  to  us  that  figured 
music  may  be  modern,  yet  not  in  opposition  to  our  prototype,  plain 
chant,  and,  that  to  preserve  this  unity  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
have  studied  and  compared  the  works  of  the  old  masters.  This, 
indeed,  is  one  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Ratisbonne  school, 
of  which  Dr.  Witt  is  so  distinguished  an  ornament,  and,  necessarily, 
influences  its  style.  Dr.  Witt’s  melodies  are  delightful  ; so  modest 
and  simple,  so  free  from  excitement  and  mawkishness.  His  harmon- 
ies are  scientific,  without  that  stiffness  of  mere  imitators  of  the  old 
ecclesiastical  writers,  and  no  man  knows  better  how  to  sum  up,  as  it 
were,  all  that  has  gone  before,  in  one  pathetic,  lingering  cadence. 
The  Kyrie , and  Agnus  Dei , in  St.  Caecilia’s  Mass,  are  masterpieces 
of  contrapuntal  art.” 

A French  magazine,  quoted  in  the  Catholic  World,  says  of  Witt : 
“ As  a composer  of  religious  music,  Witt  far  surpasses  the  most  of 
his  contemporaries,  and,  if  we  regard  the  transcendent  character  ot 
his  musical  works,  we  have  only  too  much  reason  to  exclaim,  ‘ Inex- 
orable death  has  robbed  us  of  a second  Palestrina.’  ” 

Beautiful,  also,  and  full  of  tender  devotion,  are  the  masses  of 
Kaim,  the  well  known  one  “In  Honor  of  St.  Ceeeilia,”  and  the 
Missa  Jesu  Redemptor ; and  the  masses  Sine  Nomine , and 
A’ Horn  Passa  of  Viadana,  have  a fragrance  of  sweet  innocence 
about  them  that  comes  to  one  like  the  fresh  air  of  a county  meadow. 


There  is  still  another  class  of  music  which  can  be  called 
“church  music,”  and  that  is,  all  that  modern  music  written  for  the 
church,  which,  although  not  in  the  Alla  Palestrina  style,  still  con- 
forms, on  the  whole,  to  the  regulations  of  the  church.  Such  are 
the  magnificent  Mass  in  C,  by  Beethoven,  the  eighth  and  ninth 
Masses  of  Mozart  in  F and  I),  several  of  Gounod’s  Masses,  etc. 

After  having  seen  what  true  church  music  is,  it  is  easy  to 
define  bad  church  music,  for  it  is  simply  that  music  which  does  not 
obey  the  regulations  of  the  church;  and,  unfortunately,  most  of 
Mozart’s  Masses,  all  of  Haydn’s,  Mercadante’s,  and  a host  of 
others,  come  under  this  head. 

It  is  painful  for  the  musician  who  has  been  used  to  rank  the 
operas,  symphonies,  quartettes,  or  other  concerted  music  of  Beetho- 
ven, Mozart,  Haydn,  Weber,  and  other  great  composers,  with  all 
that  is  perfect  and  beautiful  of  their  kind,  nay,  almost  to  surround 
them  with  a halo  of  inspiration,  it  is  painful  for  him  to  be  forced  to 
acknowledge  that  much  of  their  so-called  church  music  is  no  church 
music  at  all.  Yet  that  is  the  sad  fact.  With  the  exception  of  the 
greater  part  of  Beethoven’s  Mass  in  C,  the  above-mentioned  Masses 
of  Mozart,  and  a few  others,  the  masses  of  these  great  composers 
are  not  liturgical,  and  cannot,  therefore,  properly  be  sung  in  church. 
They  are  not  liturgical,  for  they  are  written  in  a worldly,  profane 
style;  they  are  so  full  of  repetitions  that  the  “words  of  the  sacred 
text  are  not  intelligible,”  and  they  are  so  lengthened  out  that  they 
impede  most  seriously  the  progress  of  the  holy  sacrifice.  To 
instance  only  one  out  of  a multitude  of  cases,  Father  Alfred  Young, 
one  Sunday,  “irreverently  timed  the  singing  of  an  amen  to  a Credo , 
and  found  that  the  priest’s  fast  was  lengthened  by  it  just  four 
minutes  and  a half.” 

The  music,  also,  in  the  finest  of  these  Masses,  is  often  entirely 
out  of  keeping  with  the  sentiment  of  the  words.  One  or  two 
instances  of  this  must  suffice  also.  The  Kyrie  of  the  great  imperial 
Mass  of  Haydn  begins  with  a blast  of  trumpets  and  a roll  of  kettle 
drums,  and  the  whole  movement  is  in  a style  of  exultation  and 
worldly  pomp.  Was  this  pious  Joseph  Haydn’s  idea  of  the  inter- 
pretation of  those  aspirations  of  humble  supplication,  “ Lo  d,  have 
mercy  upon  us”?  Not  at  all!  But  Herr  Hof-Cappellmeister  Haydn 
was  composing  a mass,  not  so  much  to  worship  the  King  of  Heaven 
as  to  celebrate  the  coronation  of  some  great  potentate  of  the  earth. 

Let  us  compare,  with  Dr.  Witt,  the  famous  aria,  Agnus  Pci, 
in  Mozart's  first  Mass,  with  the  Gregorian  Agnus  Dei,  in  the  Mass 
for  Sundays  in  Lent  and  Advent,  and  then  answer  his  question, 
“ Which  is  the  more  appropriate  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  ? ” 

And  if  composers  will  write  music  to  be  sung  to  princes  and 
congregations,  need  we  be  surprised  that  choirs  sing  rather  to  the 
congregation  than  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  God  ? For  everything 
about  the  music  is  calculated  to  remind  them  of  an  audience,  rather 
than  of  a religious  service. 

And  what  is  the  effect  ot  such  music  on  the  morals  and  behavior 
of  the  choir?  Let  us  look  at  two  pictures,  both  of  which  we  can 
see  every  Sunday.  Scene  of  the  first  picture:  The  “ organ  loft  ” 
of  a fashionable  church.  Time:  A few  minutes  before  high  Mass. 
The  soprano  bustles  in,  fashionably  dressed,  with  an  air  of  peculiar 
importance.  After  wishing  the  organist  “good  morning,”  she 
says,  “Have  you  selected  an  offertory  piece?”  “Well,  yes,” 
replies  he,  rather  apologetically,  “ I had  thought  of  the  air  from 
Rinaldo,  for  alto  solo.”  “What!  that  that  dear  old  acquaintance! 
Well,  it’s  all  Miss  A can  sing,  it’s  true.  But  Mr.  B,  I think  you’ll 
have  to  change  your  programme  to-day.  You  see  I have  invited 
some  friends  to  hear  me  to-day,  and  I’ve  brought  my  aria  from  Der 
Freischutz  to  sing.  True,  it  is  sung  very  often,  but  you  know  it 
never  grows  old,  and  you’ll  see  what  a sensation  it  will  make  when 
I sing  it.  By  the  way,  what  Mass  do  we  sing  this  morning  ? 
Weber’s?  H — m!  lovely,  but  it  won’t  do.  You  know  the  Ag?ius 
is  an  alto  solo,  and  comes  before  the  soprano  solo,  too.  No,  no,  my 
dear  Mr.  B,  we  can’t  have  that.  Let  us  take  some  other  one.  I 
have  it!  La  Hache’s  is  the  thing.  That  has  no  alto  part  at  all. 
Just  then  the  alto  enters,  with  her  offertory,  and  we  prudently  with- 
draw, just  as  Miss  A says,  with  a deep  sigh,  “ Oh,  why  will  no  one 
write  a Mass  with  no  soprano  part  to  it  ? ” 

But  now  let  us  gaze  on  this  other  picture.  A long  procession 
of  surpliced  boys  and  men  slowly  approach  the  sanctuary  from  a 
side  door,  preceded  by  the  processional  cross  and  two  lighted  candles. 
Quietly  and  reverently'  they  take  their  places  in  the  sacred  enclosure, 
and  the  solemn  Mass  begins.  We  scarcely  notice  the  music,  for  we 
are  wrapt  at  once  in  the  holy  sacrifice,  truly  a “ solemn  high  Mass,” 
of  which  the  music  is  an  essential  part,  and  yet  does  not  distract, 
but  rather  guides  us.  But  v'hen  the  priest  intones  the  Pominus 
vobiscum,  we  all  exclaim,  our  hearts  full  of  devotion  and  adoration, 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


81 


Et  cum  spiritu  tuo,  and  at  the  preface  we  all  cry  out,  Sursum  coda. 
We  have  lifted  up  our  hearts,  for  it  is  meet  and  just.  Which  of 
these  two  pictures  most  resembles  that  vision  of  Jesus  and  his  dis- 
ciples who  “sung  a hymn’’  ? A hymn  of  adoration  and  praise! 

A few  years  ago  the  music  in  the  cathedral  of  a certain  great 
city'  was  strictly  liturgical.  The  choir  was  not,  as  yet,  one  ot  sur- 
pliced  boys  and  men,  but  was  composed  of  young  men  and  women 
of  the  congregation.  It  was  an  edifying  sight  to  see  them,  with 
their  calm  and  serious  faces,  and  their  neat  and  modest  dress.  They 
siing  the  introit  and  offertory  and  communion  proper  to  the  Sunday, 
and,  for  the  Mass,  music  which  was  approved  by  the  church,  and 
pious  people  in  the  congregation  said,  “ Now  we  can  pray.”  The 
rector,  a holy  and  zealous  man,  in  a discourse  delivered  at  a meeting 
of  the  Caecilia  Verein,  said,  that  since  he  had  had  that  music  the 
attendance  at  high  Mass  had  been  larger,  and  the  collections  more 
generous  than  when  “we  had,”  as  he  expressed  it,  “opera  in  the 
church.”  The  bishop,  who  entered  heart  and  soul  into  the  music, 
exclaimed  one  day  to  his  choir  director,  “ That  shall  be  the  music  in 
this  cathedral  as  long  as  I live,”  and  it  was. 

And  now  the  question  arises:  What  are  Catholics  doing  at  the 
present  day  for  the  reform  of  church  music  ? For,  in  spite  of  all 
that  holy  popes  and  bishops  and  councils  have  done,  there  is  yet  an 
immense  deal  to  be  done.  The  answer  is  reassuring.  Societies  have 
been  formed  in  Europe  and  America,  animated  by  the  most  Cath- 
olic and  apostolic  spirit,  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  everywhere 
the  song  of  the  church.  Individuals  too,  have  joined  in  the  pious 
work  with  enthusiasm.  The  Coeeilia  Verein,  in  Europe  and 
America,  has  spread  the  knowledge  and  love  of  the  Gregorian  and 
“ Csecilian  ” music  over  all  Europe  and  America.  We  use  the  term 
“ Csecilian  ” advisedly;  for,  as  the  late  Dr.  Witt  has  said,  “ The 
task  of  the  Ciecilia  Society  is  to  make  all  the  good  and  suitable 
church  music  that  has  been  composed  in  the  last  2,000  years  service- 
able to  the  church.”  Father  Becker  says:  “ The  programme  and 
basis  of  the  St.  Coeeilia  Society  may  be  stated  as  follows:  The 
Caecilian  catalogue  of  to-day  contains  over  1,000  numbers,  com- 
prising Masses,  collections  of  musical  pieces  and  theoretical  works. 
The  programme  or  the  mission  of  the  St.  Coecilia  Society  is  to  pro- 
mote the  Gregorian  chant,  and  to  cultivate  figured  music  within  the 
limits  drawn  by  the  laws  of  the  church;  its  basis  is  the  approval  and 
blessing  of  Rome.” 

But  why  then  do  we  not  have  this  beautiful  Catholic  music  in 
our  Catholic  churches  ? For  the  same  reason,  probably,  that  there 
are  so  few  very  good  Catholics;  and  that  out  of  the  “ many  called  ” 
so  “ few  are  chosen”;  because  the  devil  tries  hard  to  keep  it  out  of 
the  churches.  If  it  once  gets  in,  he  will  have  a very  hard  time  of 
it.  How  he  goes  to  work  we  can  guess  by  meditating  on  the  words 
of  Chevalier  Singenberger,  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper; 
by  inspiring  people  with  a spirit  of  pride  and  disobedience  to  the 
church;  even  with  a spirit  of  indifference  or  infidelity.  But,  while 
the  devil  is  very  sensible  himself,  he  covers  his  victims  over  with  a 
coating  of  stupidity,,  as  the  anaconda  lubricates  his  victim  before 
swallowing  it.  For  how  can  any  sane  or  intelligent  person  prefer 
the  worldly  music  of  our  churches  to  the  heavenly  music  the  church 
offers  us  ? “ But,”  we  are  told  by  people  who  cannot  make  up  their 

minds  to  obey  without  questioning  the  commands  of  the  church, 
“ We  must  not  give  all  the  good  tunes  to  the  devil!”  or,  “ This  or 
that  lovely  music  will  have  an  edifying  effect  upon  the  congrega- 
tion.” We  answer  them:  “ We  have  an  authority  to  tell  us  what 
music  we  are  to  sing,  and  that  is  the  church.  She  teaches  11s  that 
our  first  duty  is  to  worship  God,  and  after  that,  to  edify  our  neigh- 
bor, and  that  we  cannot  at  the  same  time  worship  God  and  disobey 
the  laws  of  his  church. 

Very  few,  however,  really  think  that  this  unliturgieal  music  is 
appropriate;  and,  if  cornered,  they  would  confess  that  the  music 
prescribed  by  the  church  was  the  true  music.  But  some  like  the 
operatic  style  because  they  are  not  spiritual  and  do  not  like  spiritual 
things.  Others,  who  might  have  influence,  are  afraid  to  use  it,  and 
finally  much  of  the  indifference  to  church  music  is  due  to  the  deplor- 
able neglect  of  it  in  Catholic  schools  and  seminaries.  Our  children 
and  students  should  hear  it  and  sing  it  every  day,  and  our  Sunday- 
school  children  should  be  taught  to  sing  it  at  school  and  at  Sunday 
Mass. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  a curious  and  mortifying  fact,  that,  while 
there  is  at  “present  scarcely  one  large  Catholic  church  in  the  west 
in  which  the  church  music  is  liturgical,  or  makes  any  pretense  of 
being  so,  there  are  twenty-two  choirs,  composed  of  boys  and  men, 
in  Episcopalian  churches,  in  the  diocese  of  Chicago  alone;  and 
these,  while  they  have  no  Palestrina,  no  Orlando  Easso,  no  Franz 
Witt,  priceless  treasures  which  we  have,  and  do  not  value,  do  have 


an  immense  catalogue  ot  serious  and  devotional  music;  and  thi 
they  study  carefully,  singing  it  in  their  services,  and  in  concerts,  in 
which  latter  sometimes  many  choirs  unite.  The  congregations  are 
proud  of  them,  and  keep  their  ranks  filled  from  their  families.  If, 
then,  this  music  is  so  popular  in  Protestant  why  should  it  not  be  in 
Catholic  churches?  Indeed,  Father  Young,  and  the  Paulist 
Fathers  have  long  since  proved  that  the  Gregorian  chant  is  popular 
when  it  is  well  sung,  and  Father  Young  will  soon  be  able  to  show 
us  the  same  for  congregational  singing. 

“And  after  they  had  sung  a hymn,  they  went  forth  to  the 
mount  of  Olives.”  Oh,  blessed  hymn!  Divine  cantor!  Angelic 
chorus!  Shall  we  never  hear  you  again?  Never,  until  we  reach 
the  heavenly  city  ? God  grant  we  may!  As  we  expect  that  he  will 
one  day  move  the  hearts  of  men,  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  as  he 
has,  in  former  ages,  by  the  words  and  deeds  of  his  saints,  his 
preaching  friars,  his  Chrysostoms,  his  Bernards,  and  his  Anthonys, 
so  may7  we  confidently  hope  for  the  complete  success  of  the  church, 
through  her  holy  bishops,  priests,  and  laymen,  in  her  work  of 
purifying  and  sanctifying  the  music  of  her  temple.  But  every 
bishop,  priest,  .and  layman,  who  has  the  good  cause  at  heart,  will 
have  to  do  his  part;  some  by  active  labors,  in  organizing,  encour- 
aging, and  commanding,  others  by7  their  earnest  prayers  and  active 
cooperation.  Let  those  pious  souls,  who  say  so  many  prayers  and 
offer  so  many  Masses  for  their  own  spiritual  and  temporal  necessi- 
ties, and  those  of  dear  friends,  pray  also  for  these  intentions  of  the 
church,  not  forgetting  that  incalculable  influence  for  good  will  come 
with  liturgical  and  edifying  music  in  the  churches;  that  faith,  hope, 
and  charity  will  grow  firmer,  and  warmer.  With  what  a ravish- 
ing “odor  of  sweetness  ” will  then  those  words  be  accompanied, 
when  applied  to  a Catholic  congregation,  going  forth  from  the  holy' 
sacrifice,  to  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  the  world,  “ And  after  they7  had 
sung  a hymn,  they7  went  forth  to  the  Mount  of  Olives.” 

A vote  of  thanks  was  tendered  to  Mr.  Campbell  for  his  article 
on  temperance.  A resolution  of  thanks  was  offered  to  the  chairman 
for  the  able  manner  in  which  he  presided  over  the  convention.  The 
Committee  on  Future  Congresses  was  empowered  to  add  to  their 
number. 

Mr.  Oxahan:  1 ‘ I wish  to  make  a statement  which  will  be  brief, 
and  a motion  in  connection  with  it.  You  may  not  be  aware  that  the 
appointment  of  the  committee  on  future  congresses  did  not  contem- 
plate a report  at  this  meeting.  The  appointment  of  that  committee 
was  made  only  this  afternoon,  and  of  course  no  meeting  of  the  com- 
mittee has  been  possible.  In  that  connection,  I hope  the  gentlemen 
of  this  congress  will  allow  me  to  present,  in  the  name  of  the  Chi- 
cago delegation,  a motion.  There  is  no  member  of  this  convention 
who  does  not  feel  delighted  that  he  is  here  to-day  at  this  grand 
gathering  of  the  Catholic  laymen  of  America.  It  shows,  gentlemen, 
what  is  possible  among  us,  and  it  suggests  to  our  minds  the  necess- 
ity of  more  frequent  meetings  of  this  character.  I,  therefore,  on 
the  part  of  the  Chicago  delegation,  move  that  there  be  an  inter- 
national congres*s  called  not  later  than  1892,  and  that  it  be  held  in 
the  city7  of  Chicago.  It  can  be  convened  there  that  year  under 
happy  conditions  in  every7  respect.  Allusion  has  been  made  to  the 
circumstance  that  the  suggestion  of  this  present  congress  proceeded 
from  Chicago,  where  the  first  measures  towards  calling  it  together 
were  initiated.  I can  speak  with  authority  for  the  warmth  of  wel- 
come and  splendid  hospitality  with  which  such  a gathering  would 
be  hailed  by7  all  the  people  of  Chicago  without  distinction  of  religious 
lines.  The  congress  can  there  assemble  in  the  grandest  hall  on  the 
continent,  and  we  promise  you  a true  western  welcome. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Campbell  : “I  would  make  an  amendment  to  that 
motion.  I think  it  is  a very  proper  thing  to  have  a convention  held 
in  1892.  It  is  an  admirable  motion,  an  admirable  idea;  but  I think 
an  amendment  ought  to  be  put  in-  while  I have  not  the  slightest 
objection  to  Chicago  in  the  world — that  the  international  congress 
should  be  held  in  the  city  where  the  world’s  fair  is  held.  (.Ap- 
plause.) I have  not  the  slightest  objection  to  Chicago;  I '-think  it 
is  one  of  the  greatest  cities  in  the  world,  and  if  it  gets  the  world’s 
fair,  we  want  to  hold  it  in  Chicago.  (Applause.)  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  I guess  Chicago  people  themselves  will  admit,  and  perhaps 


82 


THE  CA  THOLIC  CONGRESS. 


Mr.  Onahan  also  will  admit  that  if  the  world’s  fair  is  to  be  held  in 
any  other  city,  whether  in  New  York,  or  Washington,  or  anywhere 
else,  that  the  eyes  of  the  world  will  be  on  that  city  at  the  time,  and 
that  is  wThere  the  Catholic  international  congress  ought  to  be  held.  ’ ’ 
(Applause.) 

Mr.  Onahan  : “I  beg  leave  to  cordially  and  heartily  accept  the 
amendment  of  the  gentleman  from  Philadelphia,  because  there  is  no 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  the  Chicagoans  that  the  world’s  fair  -will  be 
held  there.”  (Laughter  and  applause.) 

Mr.  Spaunhorst  : “ This  matter  was  left,  as  I understand  it,  in 
the  hands  of  a committee.  Otherwise  I am  in  favor  of  this  resolu- 
tion, because  we  are  going  to  get  the  fair  in  St.  Louis  anyhow.” 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 

The  Chairman  : ‘ ‘ The  chair  does  not  see  exactly  how  this  con- 
gress can  confine  the  action  of  the  committee  as  to  the  place  of 
holding  the  next  congress  in  any  particular  place  by  any  action  it 
may  take  at  this  time.” 

Mr.  Campbell  : ‘ ‘ There  seems  to  be  a misapprehension  with 
respect  to  this  matter.  The  motion  of  Mr.  Onahan,  as  I understood 
it,  was  that  the  proposed  international  Catholic  congress  should  be 
held  in  the  city  of  Chicago  in  1892.  I offered  an  amendment  that 
instead  of  designating  Chicago  as  the  city  the  proposed  international 
Catholic  congress  should  be  held  in  1892  in  whatever  city  had  the 
world’s  fair.” 

The  Chairman  : ‘‘I  believe  that  Mr.  Onahan  has  accepted  the 
amendment  proposed  by  Mr.  Campbell.  The  motion  as  amended  is 
now  before  the  congress.  ’ ’ 

The  question  was  put,  and  the  motion  as  amended  was  agreed 
to  unanimously. 

By  unanimous  vote  the  thanks  of  the  congress  was  ordered  to 
be  given  to  Mr.  Onahan,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  organization, 
and  to  his  associates,  Messrs  Spaunhorst,  Rudd,  Keiley,  and  Shea; 
also  to  Mr.  Brownson,  chairman  of  the  committee  on  papers,  and  to 
his  associates,  Messrs  Foy  and  Harson,  for  their  able  and  successful 
labors  in  organizing  the  congress. 

The  thanks  of  the  congress  were  likewise  extended  to  His 
Eminence,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  to  the 
people  and  press  of  Baltimore  for  the  hospitable  treatment  given 
to  the  congress,  and  for  the  many  courtesies  to  the  members  during 
this  memorable  celebration. 

The  Chairman:  ‘‘In  response  to  the  desire  of  the  delegates, 
Archbishop  Ireland,  of  St.  Paul,  will  address  the  congress.”  (Ap- 
plause.) 


ARCHBISHOP  IRELAND’S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen-. — I have  but  a few  words  to  say. 
They  are  these:  Go  to  your  homes  filled  with  the  enthusiasm  that 
has  marked  this  first  Catholic  congress  of  America.  You  have 
come  here  as  delegates  from  your  several  states,  you  have  listened 
to  speeches  and  to  papers,  you  have  been  inhaling  the  magnificent 
Catholic  atmosphere  that  has  distinguished  Baltimore  during  these 
three  days.  Go  back  to  your  homes  and  carry  with  you  there 
this  enthusiasm  and  spread  it  through  every  state  of  the  Union. 
(Applause.)  Go  back  and  say  to  your  fellow  Catholics  that  there 
is  a departure  among  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States.  (Renewed 
applause.)  Tell  them  that  heretofore,  so  to  speak,  you  have  done 
but  little,  but  that  henceforth  you  are  going  to  do  great  things. 
Tell  them  that  there  is  a mission  open  for  laymen.  (Applause.) 
Speak  to  them  and  organize  them  and  tell  them  the  good  that  has 
been  done.  For  my  part,  I am  rejoiced.  The  long-expected  day 
has  come  when  the  Catholics  of  the  United  States,  the  archbishops, 


the  bishops,  the  priests,  and  the  laymen  will  rise  up  as  one  man 
and  say,  We  will  henceforth  act  in  a manner  worthy  of  our  holy 
religion.  (Applause.) 

Aye,  gentlemen,  when  we  look  around  us  and  see  what  energy 
is  put  in  the  works  of  mere  secular  affairs,  when  we  see  what  energy 
is  put  in  works  for  political  success,  ought  we  not  to  be  ashamed 
of  ourselves,  since  we  represent  God’s  truth,  God’s  cross,  and  our 
leader  is  Jesus  Christ  and  the  incarnate  God  whose  home  is  in 
heaven  ? We  ought  to  exert  every  human  effort  to  practise  and 
spread  the  sacred  truths  of  our  holy  religion.  (Applause.) 

We  ought  to  be  so  enthusiastic  and  so  full  of  our  holy  cause 
that  every  day  and  every  hour  with  our  whole  heart  and  our  whole 
soul  we  shall  work  for  him,  our  Master  in  heaven.  In  vain  will  we 
tell  our  fellow-citizens  that  we  have  God’s  truth  in  our  minds,  God’s 
love  in  our  hearts,  if  we  do  not  by  our  enthusiastic  action  prove  the 
faith  and  the  love  that  is  in  us. 

If  you  do  this  you  will  come  back  to  future  congresses  better 
prepared.  You  will  come  back  to  them  to  tell  of  victories  achieved. 
Each  year  from  now  on  must  show  a marked  progress  in  the  United 
States  for  our  holy  religion,  and  in  order  that  it  shall  be  marked 
throughout  the  United  States  progress  must  be  shown  in  every  state, 
in  every  city,  and  in  every  village.  (Applause.) 

Now,  do  not  go  back  to  sleep  and  slumber,  as  in  the  past  — go 
back  to  work.  (Applause.)  Go  back  inspired,  go  back  true  Cath- 
olics and  live  like  Catholics,  and  God  will  bless  you.  For  my  part, 
I am  overjoyed  to  see  so  many  laymen,  overjoyed  to  listen  to  such 
magnificent  discourses  and  such  grand  papers,  and  to  have  realized 
that  there  is  among  our  Catholics  in  America  so  much  talent,  so 
much  strong  faith.  As  one  of  your  bishops,  I am  ashamed  of  myself 
that  I was  not  conscious  before  this  of  the  power  existing  in  the 
midst  of  the  laity  (applause),  and  that  I have  not  done  anything  to 
bring  it  out.  But  one  thing  I will  do,  with  God’s  help.  In  the 
future  I shall  do  all  I can  to  bring  out  this  power.  I assure  you,  in 
the  name  of  the  bisnops  and  priests,  that  we  will  lead,  but  I shall  be 
very  glad  to  see  y7ou  get  ahead  of  us  in  something.  (Applause.) 
May  God  bless  you  and  aid  you  in  your  work.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  M.  W.  O’Brien,  of  Detroit:  “ I move  that  this  congress 
do  now  adjourn.” 

The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  congress  adjourned. 

The  following  letter  from  His  Eminence,  Cardinal  Moran,  Arch- 
bishop of  Sydney,  was  received  after  the  congress  had  adjourned: 


St.  Mary’s  Cathedral, 
Sydney,  N.  S.  W.,  October  19,  1889. 


Dear  and  Honored  Sir : On  yesterday  I received  your 
esteemed  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  congress  of  the  Catholic 
laity  of  the  United  States  in  Baltimore,  on  November  1 1.  I regret  that 
in  our  present  steamer  arrangements  it  is  not  possible  for  me  to  be 
with  you  at  that  date.  Were  this  letter  to  reach  you  before  the  meeting 
of  your  congress  I would  most  heartily  wish  you  every  success.  As 
it  is,  I fear  it  will  not  reach  Chicago  till  after  the  congress  shall  have 
marked  a bright  page  in  the  grand  history  of  the  American  church, 
and  I may  be  permitted  by  anticipation  to  congratulate  you  oh  its 
successful  celebration  and  on  the  many7  happy  fruits  that  shall  result 
from  it.  At  this  side  of  the  Pacific  ocean  we  are  endeavoring 
to  follow  at  a distance,  and  in  a humble  way7,  the  giant  strides  that 
religion  is  making  in  the  United  States.  Every  triumph  of  the 
church  with  you  is  a triumph  for  us,  and  each  step  in  advance  in 
y7our  glorious  church  is  a model  for  us  to  imitate  at  some  future 
day.  Should  age  and  strength  and  leisure  permit,  I may7  hope  some 
time  to  pay  a visit  to  the  United  States,  in  the  ranks  of  whose  clergy 
I reckon  so  many7  friends  of  my7  earlier  years.  I11  the  mean  time,  I 
beg  to  assure  you  that  the  heartiest  and  best  wishes  of  the  Australian 
church  are  w7ith  your  congress  and  with  all  the  admirable  works  in 
which  it  shall  be  engaged. 

Believe  me  to  remain  y7our  faithful  and  devoted  servant, 
Patrick  Francis,  Cardinal  Moran, 

Archbishop  of  Sydney. 


Wm.  J.  Onahan, 
Chicago,  111.,  U.  S.  A. 


List  of  Delegates 


ALABAMA. — P.  C.  Brent,  Mobile;  D.  S.  Troy,  Montgomery;  Rev.  James 

A.  Meurer,  Birmingham. 

ARKANSAS. — D.  W.  Carroll,  Little  Rock;  B.  F.  Du  Val,  Ft.  Smith;  James 
Murphy,  Arkansas  City. 

CALIFORNIA. — V.  Rev.  Joseph  Sasia,  S.  J.,  San  Francisco;  V.  Rev.  J. 
Adam,  V.  G.,  Los  Angeles. 

COLORADO.— J.  Richter,  Pueblo, 

CONNECTICUT. — John  E.  Scanlan,  John  Risser,  J.  J.  Loftus,  Rev.  Wm. 
Maher,  Hartford;  C.  T.  Driscoll,  Joseph  E.  Taylor,  John  E.  McPartland,  New 
Haven;  Rev.  T.  P.  Joynt,  A.  L.  Chappell,  New  London. 

DAKOTA. — Dr.  V.  Harold,  Ft.  Buford;  Wm.  L.  McLaughlin,  Sioux  Falls. 
DELAWARE. — John  K.  Bradford,  John  P.  Donahoe,  J.  S.  Brennan,  Wil- 
mington. 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA.— Thos.  Sheridan,  John  T.  Coughlin,  Ed- 
mond Mallet,  A.  P.  Morse,  Rev.  J.  H.  Richards,  S.  J.,  Eugene  D.  F.  Brady, 
Milton  E.  Smith,  George  W.  Maher,  Dr.  Wm.  F.  Byrns,  Dr.  P.  J.  Murphy, 
Bro.  Alphaeus,  Eugene  T.  Arnolds,  Martin  F.  Morris,  Tallmadge  A.  Lambert, 
Geo.  E.  Hamilton,  Geo.  W.  M.  Hill,  Rev.  E.  H.  Welch,  S.  J.,  Washington. 
FLORIDA. — V.  Rev.  J.  B.  Baasen,  Pensacola. 

GEORGIA — J.  C.  Payne,  James  S.  O’Neill,  John  J.  Lynch,  V.  Rev.  B.  J. 
Keiley,  V.  G.,  Atlanta;  Patrick  Walsh,  Augusta. 

ILLINOIS.— John  P.  Boughan,  D.  F.  Bremner,  M.  W.  Kelly,  Geo.  W. 
Smith,  James  H.  Burke,  Rev.  E.  A.  Higgins,  S.  J.,  Rev.  F.  X.  Schulack,  S.  J., 
Rev.  E.  J.  Dunne,  Wm.  A.  Doyle,  M.  St.  P.  Thomas,  Adam  Meyer,  Peter 
Kiolbassa,  J.  G.  Demes,  J.  A.  Koenig,  F.  X.  Brandecker,  Jr.,  P.  F.  Gillespie, 
Wm.  L.  Loeffel,  John  H.  Burke,  D.  J.  Gallery,  D.  J.  McMahon,  W.  W.  Brown, 
Chas.  S.  Winslow,  Patrick  Cavanaugh.  John  W.  Garvey,  Dr.  John  Guerin, 
Michael  Doyle,  Dr.  J.  J.  Larkin,  Daniel  Deasey,  John  McCabe,  J.  M.  Dowling, 
John  Burke,  Rev.  John  Lilia,  Wladislaus  Smulski,  P.  J.  Healy,  Rev.  J.  L. 
Grogan,  W.  J.  Onahan,  John  M.  Duffy,  Rev.  M.  Fitzsimmons,  Rev.  D.  A.  Tighe, 
Ch.  A.  Mair  Rev.  Geo.  J.  Blatter,  M.  F.  Raftree,  P.  T.  Barry,  J.  J.  Fitzgibbon, 
Rev.  Wm.  Horan,  Rev.  Wm.  White,  Rev.  John  P.  Hogan,  Rev.  P.J.  O’Connor, 
Bro.  Adjutor,  J,  F.  O’Connor,  A.  Brosseau,  James  Armstrong,  John  F.  Scanlan, 
John  McMullen,  Rev.  A.  Tolton,  M.  R.  Morgan,  Chicago;  M.  Reis,  John  A. 
Bedell,  M.  Boul,  B.  Kepell,  W.  Holdner,  Belleville  ; Rev.  J.  B.  Schnelten, 
Olney;  Henry  Schmelten,  Carrolton;  J.  Wise,  Alton;  N.  Kellegau,  Pana. 

INDIANA. — John  N.  Breen,  Logotee;  Henry  Cawthorn,  Vincennes; 
Francis  Burke,  Jeffersonville;  George  Korbly,  W.  H.  Horoff,  Madison;  H. 
Hulmann,  Terre  Haute;  Rev.  C.  Thomas,  O.  S.  B.,  Huntington;  Peter  Schaf, 
Brookville;  Rt.  Rev.  F.  Mundwiler,  O.  S.  B.,  St.  Meinrad’s;  Wm.  P.  Breen,  H. 
C.  Berghoff,  P.  S.  O’Rourke,  Jos.  V.  Fox,  A.  C.  Trentman,  Ft.  Wayne;  J.  F. 
Edwards,  Notre  Dame;  M.  D.  Fansler,  Robt.  Carroll,  Logansport;  John  T. 
Mugg,  Lafayette. 

IOWA. — Bart.  E.  Linehan,  D.  J.  Hennessy,  A.  C.  Cooper,  Jr.,  Rev.  P.  J, 
Burke,  Rev.  R.  Ryan,  Rev.  F.  Louis,  Dubuque;  John  Lillis,  E.  T.  Lynch,  F. 

B.  Sharon,  Davenport;  John  Rogers,  Des  Moines;  George  Hummer,  Iowa 
City. 

KANSAS. — Rt.  Rev.  I.  Wolf,  O.  S.  B.,  Atchison;  Thos.  Fenelon,  B.  Blair, 
John  O’Flanagan,  Leavenworth;  D.  O’Brien,  Michael  Henry,  Topeka;  Dr.  A. 
Letourneau,  Concordia. 

KENTUCKY. — V.  Rev.  L.  G.  Deppen,  Dau’l  Dougherty,  Louisville;  Jas. 
W.  Bryan,  B.  Becker,  J.  H.  Mersman,  M.  T.  Shine,  Wm.  A.  Byrne,  W.  W. 
Cleary,  Covington. 

LOUISIANA. — Frank  McGloin,  John  T.  Gibbons,  Henry  Chappella,  J. 
B.  Fisher,  J.  N.  Augustine,  Paul  Capderielle,  M.  S.  Mahony,  J.  B.  Buchanan, 
Jos.  Bowling,  John  J.  O’Connor,  James  D.  Coleman,  Thos.  J.  Semines,  New 
Orleans;  Geo.  W.  Young,  Jos.  Lorras,  J.  J.  Quinn,  A.  Cassard,  Red  River 
Landing. 

MAINE. — Dr.  Jas.  Grady,  Eastport;  Dr.  J.  L.  Fortier,  Waterville;  Dr.  L. 
J.  Martel,  Lewiston;  Dan’l  Cote,  Biddeford;  Thos.  J.  Lynch,  Augusta;  John 

B.  Donovan,  Alfred;  C.  J.  McCarthy,  Wm.  H.  Looney,  T.  P.  McGovern,  D.  O. 

C.  O’Donoghue,  Thos.  F.  Donahue,  Jas.  Cunningham,  Denis  A.  Meaher,  Port- 
land. 

MARYLAND. — William  Walsh,  Cumberland;  Ernest  Lagarde,  Rev.  E. 
P.  Allen,  D.  D.,  Emmittsburg;  Daniel  A.  Boone,  Michael  Jenkins,  John  B. 
Piet,  Clarence  J.  Holloway,  F.  X.  Ward,  C.  Halstead,  Robt.  A.  Jamison,  C.  K. 
Lord,  Chas.  G.  Kerr,  W.  F.  Campbell,  j.  S.  Mauray,  Chas.  B.  Roberts,  James 
Higgius,  Jr.,  H.  W.  Tehan,  F.  J.  Martin,  Henry  Rosendale,  John  T.  Marius, 
C.  J.  Bonaparte,  Geo.  K.  Teltie,  Thos.  J.  Sullivan,  M.  M.  Snell,  R.  M.  Johns- 
ton, W.  R.  Reilly,  E.  J.  Molloy,  Dr.  S.  A.  Keene,  O.  Horsey,  J.  F.  McEvoy, 
Jas.  Doyle,  Wm.  H.  Perkins,  Jr.,  John  Findlay,  W.  J.  Snieringer,  Jas.  McDon- 
ough, Edm.  Ryan,  F.  X.  Russell,  Francis  McKin,  Wm.  J.  Carroll,  J.  A.  Fink, 
Louis  Mercert,  G.  W.  S.  Giddens,  Dr.  C.  O’Donovan,  Jr.,  Chas.  S.  Gundall, 
F.  J.  Disney,  Thos.  Muldowuy,  John  P.  O’Ferrall,  J.  A.  McDonough,  Jas.  P. 
Gaffney,  Bro.  Romuald,  Bro.  Quintinian,  Bro.  Edward,  Bro.  Virgil,  Viscount 
de  Meaux,  Harvey  E.  Mann,  E.  S.  Delone,  Wm.  L.  Solean,  J.  H.  Smithson,  C. 
W.  Heuisler,  Adam  Denpert,  Thos.  Meegan,  J.  L.  Miller,  Jas.  A.  Smith,  John 
M. Wilhelm,  Ign.  Turner,  Rt.  Rev.  John  Hintenach,  Thos.  A.  Whelan,  Rev.  T. 
W.  Hayes,  J.  F.  Roth,  Chas.  Becker,  Michael  A.  Mullin,  Wm.  T.  Mullin,  John 


Donnelly,  Wm.  J.  Donnelly,  Jas.  Carroll,  Philip  Singleton,  D.  J.  Murphy 
Thos.  F.Hiskey,  J.  D.  Wheeler,  Al.  Shriver,  M.  O.  Shriver,  C.  C.  Shriver,  T. 
R.  Jenkins,  Patrick  Philbin,  A.  Leo  Knott,  Alex,  Yearley,  John  T.  Carter, 
John  B.  McKee,  J.  S.  J.  Healy,  Robt.  Biggs,  Henry  F.  Spalding,  Philip  Walsh, 
Jr.,  S.  H.  Caughy,  J.  E.  Walsh,  Jeff.  Walsh,  F.  P.  K.  Walsh,  J.  M.  Griffith,  C. 
Miller,  L.  Miller,  Jas.  D.  Moulton,  Godfrey  A.  Smith,  Dr.  J.  J.  Stafford,  John 
Rhein,  P.  J.  McAvoy,  A.  F.  Sterker,  R.  Coulahan,  W.  S.  Coulahan,  Thomas 
ICreutzer,  Phil.  N.  Dwyer,  Jas.  A.  Kennert,  D.  J.  Foley,  John  S.  Rinn,  Chas. 
Becker,  Rev.  P.  Griffith,  L.  W.  Small,  Edw.  F.  Milholland,  Wm.  McSherry,  Jr., 
F.  D.  Gardener,  R.  B.  I.  Combs,  Wm.  J.  O’Brien,  Geo.  May,  Henry  W.  Mears, 
Philip  A.  Dickson,  Jas.  R.  Wheeler,  Hugh  K.  Barr,  T.  H.  Shriver,  Thos.  G. 
Carroll,  Will.  H.  McGowman,  Rev.  P.  J.  Donahue,  Baltimore;  Bro.  Cajetan, 
Bro.  Isadore,  Bro.  Maurice,  Ellicott  City;  Rev.  W.  H.  Reany,  Liberty. 

MASSACHUSETTS. — Rev.  Thos.  Scully,  A.  F.  Dwyer,  C.  F.  Donnelly, 
Rev.  W.  P.  McQuaid,  P.  F.  Sullivan,  T.  Sullivan,  Jas.  R.  Murphy,  Nicholas 
M.  Williams,  Samuel  Tuckerman,  Thos.  B.  Fitz,  Jos.  D.  Fallen,  Patrick  Dona- 
hoe, J.  B.  O’Reilly,  Bernard  Carr,  Jas.  L.  Walsh,  Thos.  Reilly,  Dr.  Wm.  G. 
McDonald,  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Dunn,  Edw.  J.  Flynn,  Boston;  Hugh  F.  Gillon,  Lowell; 
Rev.  J.  P.  Bodfish,  Canton;  Rev.  M.  D.  Murphy,  Hopkinton;  Rev.  P.  A.  Mc- 
Kenna, Marlboro;  Dr.  Wm.  S.  Byrnes,  Springfield;  Rev.  R.  Walsh,  Rev.  D. 
Scannell,  Rev.  M.  A.  O’Sullivan,  Jas.  Early,  Geo.  McAleer,  Edw.  F.  Tower, 
Patrick  H.  Quinn,  Worcester;  M.  R.  Daley,  Dr.  J.  B.  Chapin,  Edw.  Amyot,  Fall 
River. 

MICHIGAN. — Rev.  M.  P.  Dowling,  S.  J.,  M.  W.  O’Brien,  John  C.  Don- 
nelly, Wm.  H.  Hughes,  Dr.  A.  Kaiser,  H.  F.  Brownson,  John  Miner,  Paul 
Rabaut,  Jos.  B.  Moore,  T.  J.  Larkin,  John  Hyde,  H.  W.  Skinner,  Wm.  Y. 
Hamlm,  John  V.  Moran,  Rt.  Rev.  John  S.  Foley,  Chas.  S.  McDonald,  Syl- 
vester Blake,  J.  E.  Sullivan,  John  A.  Russell,  R.  S.  Willis,  John  J.  Keenan,  Jas. 
H.  Vhay,  H.  W.  Deare,  R.  R.  Elliott,  F.  F.  Palms,  J.  T.  Keena.  Wm.  A.  Dwyer, 
Jeremiah  Dwyer,  Thos.  J.  Paxton,  Alex.  Chapoton,  Jr.,  Detroit;  M.  J.  McHugh, 
Rev.  Francis  O’Brien,  Jas.  Rooney,  Kalamazoo;  V.  Rev.  P.  A.  Baart,  Marshall; 
T.  A.  E.  Weadock,  Rev.  Thos.  Rafter,  Bay  City;  John  Killean,  Grand  Rapids. 

MINNESOTA. — John  S.  Prince,  Rev.  J.  J.  Keane,  Jas.  C.  Fitzgerald,  M. 
W.  Cole,  John  Twohy,  L.  M.  Hastings,  Wm.  L.  Kelly,  Wm.  L.  Kelly,  Jr.,  A. 
Dufrene,  A.  L.  Larpenteur,  J.  M.  Prendergast,  J.  C.  Prendergast,  M.  R.  Pren- 
dergast,  Pat’k  Butler,  Thos.  Berrisford,  A.  D.  McLeod,  M.  Mealey,  Chas.  L- 
Haas,  H.  G.  Haas,  H.  C.  McNair,  John  Rogers,  J.  C.  Kennedy,  J.  C.  Nolan, 
St.  Paul;  John  Sweetman,  Currie;  N.  J.  Miller,  C.  P.  Maginnis,  Duluth;  John 
O’Brien,  Stillwater;  M.  H.  Keeley,  Faribault;  J.  K.  Cullen,  Waverly;  Anth. 
Kelly,  Wm.  S.  Markoe,  Minneapolis. 

MISSISSIPPI. — M.  Queyles,  J.  W.  Lambert,  Natchez;  Rev.  C.  A.  Oliver, 

D.D.,  Scranton. 

MISSOURI. — H.  J.  Spaunhorst,  Louis  Fusz,  Geo.  A.  Bannantine,  Amedee 
V.  Reyburn,  Theophile  Papin,  Jr.,  Conde  B.  Pallen,  Francis  A.  Drew,  Wm. 
M.  Tompkins,  R.  C.  Kerens,  Peter  L.  Foy,  Rev.  J.  T.  Tuohy,  A.  J.  McDonald, 
Thos.  A.  Rice,  Rev.  J.  P.  Frieden,  S.  J.,  Rev.  E.  J.  Gleeson,  S.  J.,  Fred.  T. 
Ladergerber,  Michael  McEnnis,  V.  Rev.  H.  Muhlsiepen,  St.  Louis;  Rev.  P.  B. 
O’Laughlin,  Rolla;  Jerome  G.  Boarman,  Dr.  G.  W.  Fitzpatrick,  Dr.  J.  A.  Har- 
rigan,  Kansas  City;  Rev.  F.  W.  Graham,  Rev.  A.  Newman,  M.  J.  McCabe 
Bernard  Patton,  St.  Joseph. 

NEBRASKA. — John  A.  Creighton,  John  A.  McShane,  C.  W.  Hamilton, 
T.  G.  Gillmore,  Chas.  Taggart,  John  Baumer,  W.  A.  L.  Gibbons,  Chas.  Mc- 
Donald, John  B.  Furay,  J.  F.  Kinsler,  Omaha;  John  Fitzgerald,  Wm.  Mc- 
Laughlin, J.  J.  Butler,  jas.  Ledwith,  Chas.  McGlare,  Lincoln. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE.— V.  Rev.  John  E.  Barn*,  V.  G.,  John  M.  Mitchell, 
Concord;  Rev.  E.  M.  O’Callaghan,  Portsmouth;  Rev.  P.  J.  Finnegan,  Clare- 
mont; Rev.  J.  Canning,  Exeter;  Rev.  J.  H.  B.  Milette,  Nashua;  John  C.  Linehan, 
Penacook;  Rev.  R.  McEvoy,  Peterboro;  Jas.  T.  Donahoe,  Rev.  J.  A.  Chevalier, 
Rev.  J.  J.  Lyons,  Frank  C.  Miveille,  Thos.  Corcoran,  Manchester;  Rev.  D.  W. 
Murphy,  Dover. 

NEW  JERSEY. — John  G.  Shea,  Elizabeth;  Patrick  Farrelly,  Morristown; 
Rev.  John  Nolan,  V.  Rev.  E.  Helmstetter,  Rev.  J.  A.  O’Grady,  Rev.  J.  M. 
Flynn,  Rev.  J.  Toels,  Rev.  J.  H.  Hill,  Rev.  J.  H.  Brady,  Rev.  J.  Brennan,  Pat- 
rick Blewitt,  T.  Faughnan,  Jas.  G.  McLaughlin,  M.  E.  Condon,  T.  Kane,  Dr. 
John  B.  Richmond,  Newark;  W.  T.  Ryan,  Orange;  John  F.  Prendergast, 
Salem;  R.  S.  Pettit,  C.  P.  Maloney,  Atlantic  City;  Rev.  W.  J.  McAdam,  Law- 
rence Farrell,  Trenton;  Jacob  Massner,  Bridgetree;  John  J.  Burleigh,  Camden. 

NEW  YORK.— Geo.  J.  Schmitt,  Count  Loubat,  Nugent  Robinson,  John  D. 
Crimmins,  Wm.  H.  Field,  Eugene  Kelly,  John  A.  Mooney,  Jos.  J.  O’Donoghue, 
Morgan  J.  O’Brien,  L.  H.  Chapin,  Jos.  McGuire,  Wm.  R.  Grace,  Jas.  S.  Coleman, 
David  McClure,  Thos.  F.  Ryan,  Aug.  Walsh,  Dr.  John  McCreery,  John  O’Brien, 
Richard  H.  Clarke,  Jos.  F.  Carrigan,  Francis  Higgins,  George  B.  Robinson,  Jas. 
A.  G.  Beales,  Robt.  J.  Hoguet,  Henry  L.  Hoguet,  Dr.  Thos.  A.  Emmet,  Hugh  J. 
Grant,  Dr.  Chas.  C.  LeeFrederic  R.  Coudert,  Judge  O’Gorman,  J.  W.  Went- 
worth, Chas.  G.  Hebermann,  Duncan  Harris,  Scott  Lord,  Wm.  P.  O’Connor, 
Henry  Amy,  Chas.  V.  Fornes,  John  B.  Manning,  Z.  J.  Halpin,  Jeremiah  Fitz- 
patrick, Gen.  John  Newton,  Jos  F.  Daly,  Nicholas  Benziger,  Louis  Benziger, 
P.  O’Shea,  L.  Kehoe,  Augustin  Daly,  L.  B.  Binsse,  John  G.  Neeser,  Adrian 
Iselin,  Jr.,  Oliver  P.  Buell,  Geo.  Bliss,  Jas.  D.  Lynch,  Paul  L.  Theband,  T.  J. 


84 


THE  CATHOLIC  CONGRESS. 


Glover,  Jos.  Dillon,  John  J.  n.  Beckett,  John  Byrne,  Jr.,  F.  X.  Sadlier,  V.  J. 
Dowling,  1’.  J.  Collier,  V.  Rev.  Thos.  J.  Campbell,  S.  J.,  Rev.  John  Scully,  S. 
J.,  Bro.  Justin,  Edw.  F.  Fagan,  Thos.  D.  Kincade,  Robt.  McGinnis,  Jr.,  John 
Burke,  Wm.  J.  Fanning,  John  P.  Brophy,  Thos.  F.  Meehan,  Xavier  Roth,  T.  P. 
Galligan,  M.  F.  Galligan,  Jas.  O'Tuell,  Austin  E.  Ford,  Robt.  E.  Ford,  John 
H.  Kelly,  Eugene  Kelly,  Jr.,  Wm.  Schickel,  Edw.  D.  Farrell,  Frank  Ehret, 
John  B.  Hasslocker,  Peter  Dorlger,  Geo.  B.  Coleman,  Bryan  Lawrence,  Wm. 
Solar,  E.  C.  Donnelly,  Patrick  Meehan,  D.  R.  Bend,  Wm.  L.  Brown,  Thos.  S. 
Brennan,  Chas.  W.  Sloane,  G.  P.  H.  McVhay,  F.  H.  O'Neill,  John  C.  Ryan,  F. 
Elbe,  John  Hayes,  R.  J.  Hoguet,  Jr.,  H.  S.  Jenkins,  John  J.  Reilly,  Christopher 
Boilan,  Daniel  O’Leary,  Thos.  O.  Agnew,  Thos.  Kelly,  Eng.  J.  McEnroe,  Dan’l 
Devlin,  John  J.  Tardy,  John  H.  Spellman,  John  R.  Jameson,  John  D.  Cummins, 
Jr.,  F.  D.  Hoyt,  Rev.  C.  O’Keeffe,  Rev.  John  Larkin,  John  O’Rourke,  Thos. 
Mulcroy,  Jas.  A.  Mulroy,  J.  B.  Walker,  Rev.  John  J.  Kean,  M.  T.  McMahon, 
Rev.  J.  B.  Salter,  Rev.  Michael  Nevin,  Bro.  James,  Jas.  Doherty,  Terence  J. 
Larkin,  New  York;  Rev.  P.  W.  Tandy,  Sing  Sing;  James  McMahon,  John  C. 
McGuire,  Bernard  J.  York,  Wm.  G.  Ross,  John  D.  Carroll,  Thos.  F.  Meehan,  P 
F.  Keaney,  Jas.  H.  Breen,  Thos.  Cassin,  P.  H.  Goodwin,  Robt.  Myhan,  Thos 
N.  York,  J,  H.  Farrell,  Jas.  White,  Francis  Curran,  Rev.  J.  H.  Hartnett,  C.  M. 

R.  J.  Dooley,  Jos.  T.  Keiley,  Dr.  Geo.  R.  Kuber,  John  R.  Kuber,  Dr.  Louis  De 

B.  Kuhn,  John  D.  Keiley,  Jr.,  Brooklyn;  John  A.  O’Reilly,  John  G.  Clifford, 
Rev.  J.  F.  Mullaney,  Syracuse;  Francis  Kernan,  Nicholas  E.  Kernan,  Utica 
Chas.  Trace}’,  John  M.  McCable,  Rev.  D.  B.  Collins,  Peter  J.  Flinn,  W.  V.  Mc- 
Kinley, Albany;  Wm. O’Connor,  Lansingburgli;  John  F.  Dwyer,  Miles  McGrath, 
John  O'Hara,  Patrick  N.  Crowe,  Michael  C.  Donlan,  Amsterdam;  Edm. 
O'Connor,  P.  Tighe,  Dr.  Mulheron,  Binghamton;  Thos.  Sutherland,  Troy;  Rev. 
P.  H.  Barrett,  Saratoga;  John  McManus,  Jas.  H.  Dormer,  Chas.  Lautz,  Jas. 
E.  Nunan,  John  J.  Hynes,  Jos.  Cameron,  M.  A.  McHale,  John  Wimmer,  Jos. 
Eberler,  John  A.  Hippell,  G.  M.  Zimmerman,  John  Streicker,  Martin  Avley, 
M.  Noon,  Caspar  Drescher,  D.  McDonald,  Thos.  Gaskin,  A.  J.  Rohmer,  Simon 
J.  Shien,  Conrad  Schirra,  Richard  Conklin,  Jas.  Finn,  Martin  Haley,  Jacob 
Hiemenz,  Matthias  Rohr,  Henry  Lieder,  John  Moritz,  John  E.  Zenner,  John 
Riordan,  F.  J.  Stephen,  Julius  Dietz,  Aug.  Hager,  F.  J.  Riester,  T.  Gingras,  J. 
A.  Gitlire,  Rev.  P.  Cronin,  Dr.  W.  C.  Callanan,  Alph.  Roehmer,  Buffalo;  Edw. 
Rogers,  Daniel  Rogers,  Corning;  John  E.  Daliouey,  J.  J.  O'Connor,  Elmira; 
P.  J.  Kelly,  Salamanca;  Thos.  Gillyau,  Edw.  Bissett,  Olean  City;  M.  F.  Bergin, 
Bergin;  Michael  E.  McNally,  Wellsville;  Rev.  P.  V.  Cavanaugh,  C.  M.,  Niagara; 
Rev.  INI.  J.  Keane,  Hornellsville;  John  B.  Riley,  Rev.  J.  H.  Conroy,  Ogdens- 
burg;  Rev.  T.  Glenn,  Watertown;  John  Neukirchen,  F.  J.  Nugent,  Andrew 
P.  Schell,  Rochester. 

NORTH  CAROLINA.— F.  W.  Kirclmer,  Rt.  Rev.  Leo  Haid,  O.  S.  B., 
Belmont. 

OHIO. — Pli.  B.  Ewing,  Edw.  McGanuon,  H.  A.  Rheinhard,  John  A. 
Kuster,  Luke  G.  Byrne,  David  McAlister,  Edw.  J.  Manrath,  Gil.  B.  Daugherty, 
Tall  Slough,  Columbus;  John  G.  McDermott,  Thos.  J.  McDermott,  J.  N.  Steiner, 
Zanesville;  R.  E.  Barron,  Geo.  W.  Schachleiter,  Ironton;  M.  A.  Daugherty, 
Lancaster;  Thos.  Kane,  Steubenville;  Rev.  L.  Beek,  Dayton;  Donn  Piatt, 
Mac-o-cheek;  G.  W.  Schmitt,  Adam  Schmitt.  Patrick  Poland,  Lawrence  Poland, 
John  H.  Kohnescher,  Matthew  Cahill,  Wm.  Poland,  Ferd.  Marcelleff,  T.  J. 
Mulvihill,  John  Haggerty,  J.  M.  Mulroy,  F.  A.  Grene,  Bruno  Ritter.  Daniel  A. 
Rudd,  Wm.  S.  Ervin,  Wm.  C.  Walking,  Thos.  P.  Hart,  Rev.  H.  A.  Schapman, 

S.  J.,  John  R.  Rudd,  Rev.  R.  H.  Daees,  Robt.  Beatin. Cincinnati;  Rev.Wm.  Mc- 
Mahon, Martin  Neuhausel,  Chas.  J.  Kirschner,  John  J.  Vollmeyer,  John  Leahv. 
Edw.  Dannermiller,  Jos.  Biechel,  Jas.  McHenry,  Jas.  Lavan,  P.  C.  O’Brien, 
Luke  Brennan,  T.  Smith,  B.  McCarthy,  Wm.  A.  Manning,  Cleveland;  T.  J. 
McDonnell,  John  L.  Burns,  Dr.  J.  T.  Lawless,  John  Showell,  Bernard  H.  Holt- 
griene,  Toledo;  Felix  Shepley,  Henry  Falke,  O.  A.  Trieber,  Massillon;  Rev. 

C.  Trieber,  Crestline;  W.  E.  Mosher,  Youngstown;  Thos.  McSheehy,  Fremont; 
Otto  Wagner,  Herman  Schieber,  Tiffin;  Nich.  Forty,  Fostoria;  Wm.  A.  Lynch, 
Herman  Kloherer,  Canton. 


OREGON. — Michael  Mumy,  Portland. 

PENNSYLVANIA. — F.  W.  Gunster,  John  E.  Barrett,  John  F.  Connolly, 
W.  T.  Holland,  R.  J.  White,  P.  J.  Kelly,  Scranton;  Rev.  Peter  C.  Nagel, 
Wilkesbarre;  Wm,  McSherry  John  H.  Lowell,  Harrisburg;  S.  M.  Sener,  Lan- 
caster; Rev.  J.  J.  Gormly,  Renovo;  S.  J.  Cordovi,  Gettysburg;  A.  F.  Keating; 
John  D.  Scully,  Jere  Dunlevy,  Jr.,  Jas.  D.  Callery,  Chas.  F.  McKenna,  Jas. 
Phelan,  Wm.  Loeffler,  J.  B.  Larkin,  Wm.  A.  Golden,  Albert  J.  Barr,  C.  G. 
Dixon,  Jas.  A.  McNally,  W.  E.  Lant,  A.  V.  I).  Wattersou,  Jas.  Whelan,  T.  It. 
Casey,  Jas.  A.  McCormick,  Thos.  A.  Joyce,  Jas.  F.  Wall,  John  C.  Gray,  Pitts 
burgh;  Jas.  Cullen,  A.  J.  Anderson,  Altoona;  T.  L.  White,  Jas.  L.  Devenev , 
Joseph  S.  Skelly,  McKeesport;  Rev.  Vincent  Huber,  O.  S.  B.,  Rev.  LouG 
Haas,  O.  S.  B.,  W.  J.  Head,  Latrobe  ; B.  J.  Reid,  Clarion;  P.  H.  Cooney, 

T.  S.  Alberstadt,  A.  H.  Bloiner,  Erie;  C.  B.  Friedman,  Titusville;  Rev.  Jas. 
Brennan,  M.  -Kahl,  Sharon;  J.  S.  McGarry,  Franklin;  Stephen  Farrelly,  C.  A. 
Hardy,  M.  F.  Wilhere,  Atlee  Douredoure,  Wm.  J.  Brennan,  W.  J.  Power,  Chas. 
McKeou,  Jules  Junker,  PL  J.  Aledo,  T.  R.  Elcock,  P'.  T.  Furey,  P.  J.  Hoban, 
Thos.  McFarland,  John  J.  McVey,  Thos.  E.  Mullan,  Jas.  F.  Henry,  P.  Nunga 
troyde,  F.  A.  Cunningham,  Frank  A.  Foy,  John  H.  Campbell,  Jas.  E.  Dough- 
erty, Hugh  McCaffrey,  Tim.  H.  Dale,  John  F.  McGinley,  Richard  F.  Currie, 
Owen  Kelly,  Phil.  A.  Nolan,  Michael  Murphy,  Wm.  A.  Hayes,  Peter  Weber, 
Bro.  Julian,  Rev.  Wm.  Kieran,  D.D.,  Rev.  Jas.  Daugherty,  C.  H.  A.  Esling, 
Chas.  Walsh,  M.  I.  J.  Griffin,  J.  B.  Colahan,  Jas.  J.  Boyle,  Jas.  T.  Furey,  Wm. 
F.  Harrity,  N.  J.  Griffin,  John  A.  Ward,  Chas.  H.  Hard,  John  J.  Boyle,  D.  C. 
Mulhearn,  Philadelphia;  Mgr.  Thos.  Brennan,  D.D.,  Driftwood. 

RHODE  ISLAND. — Jos.  D.  Banigan,  P.  J.  McCarthy,  M.  J.  Harson,  Eug. 
T.  McAuliffe,  W.  J.  Feeley,  Jas.  T.  Kennedy,  T.  J.  O’Neill,  Providence;  John 
Grant,  Central  Falls. 

TENNESSEE. — M.  Burns,  Louis  Ketterman,  P.  K.  Carlin,  John  J.  Shea, 
Nashville;  M.  Condon,  F.  J.  Callan,  Knoxville;  Wm.  Fitzgerald,  Memphis. 

TEXAS  - Thos.  F.  McEnnis,  Dallas;  J.  H.  Z.  Scott,  Dr.  C.  H.  Wilkinson, 
Paul  Shean,  Galveston. 

UTAH.— J.  M.  Gibbons,  Ogden. 

VERMONT. — Dr.  John  D.  Hanrahan,  Rutland;  Rev.  It.  J.  O’Sullivan, 
Burlington;  Rev.  J.  A.  Boissonnault,  St.  Johnsbury;  Dr.  V.  Gosselin,  Bellows 
Falls. 

VIRGINIA.  Wm.  Daffron,  J.  P.  Coleman,  Dr.  John  Mahoney,  John  R. 
Higgins,  Wm.  F.  Reddy,  John  M.  Finnegan,  John  H.  Nagle,  Wm.  L.  Finne- 
gan, Dr.  Daniel  J.  Coleman,  John  T.  Delaney,  Richard  L.  Carne,  Patrick  Kee- 
nan, John  H.  Dinnen,  Richmond;  Michael  Glennon,  M.  Duggin,  J.  C.  Carroll, 
Norfolk;  Rev.  J.  T.  O’Farrell,  Petersburg;  Jos.  A.  Parker,  Portsmouth. 

WEST  VIRGINIA. — John  E.  Kenna,  Thos.  O'Brien,  T.  S.  Riley,  James 
Divine,  M.  J.  O’Kane,  Wm.  S.  Foose,  Patrick  Kennedy,  P.  J.  Gavin,  Jas.  A. 
Lilian,  Jas.  Wier,  Patrick  Weir,  W.  C.  Handlon,  John  Waterhouse,  Wm.  Myles, 
T.  W.  Weitzel,  P.  J.  Gillegan,  John  J.  Reilly,  John  A.  White,  C.  A.  Wingerter, 
John  J.  Carroll,  M.  O’Neill,  Wheeling;  John  T.  McGraw,  Grafton;  D.  H.  Sul- 
livan, Beall’s  Mills. 

WISCONSIN. — John  Lawler,  Prairie  du  Chien;  John  Keough,  Jas.  Bar- 
don,  East  Superior;  Jas.  Conroy,  Milwaukee. 

WYOMING.  A.  C.  Campbell,  Cheyenne. 

QUEBEC.-  Rev.  J.  A.  McCallen,  Jas.  A.  Sadlier,  Montreal;  Ilonore  Mer- 
cier,  Quebec. 

NOVA  SCOTIA.— M.  J.  Power,  Halifax. 

ONTARIO.  B.  B.  Hughes,  Toronto,  Rt.  Rev.  T.  J.  Dowling,  Rev.  J.  J. 
Creven,  Rev.  John  Connolly,  Hamilton. 

NEW  BRUNSWICK.- Richard  F.  Quigley,  Richard  O’Brien,  St.  John; 
Rev.  J.  Carter,  Petit  Rocher;  V.  Rev.  P.  F.  Barry,  Bathurst. 

ENGLAND.  Mgr.  C.  I.  Gadd,  Manchester;  Rev.  Jas.  Nugent,  Liverpool: 
Jas.  Hennessy,  London. 

IRELAND.  Bro.  E.  A.  O’Shanahan,  Bro.  C.  D.  Mehegau,  Cork. 


DEDICATION 

OF  THE 

Catholic  University  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


To  the  dedication  of  the  divinity  hall  of  the  new  Catholic  uni- 
versity at  Washington,  D.  C.,  flocked  five  or  six  thousand  persons 
from  Baltimore,  Washington,  and  other  places  on  Wednesday, 
November  13.  Though  the  rain  until  afternoon  interfered  some- 
what with  the  arrangements  for  services  outside  of  the  building, 
everything  was  so  well  ordered  inside,  comparatively  speaking,  that 
no  one  failed  to  enjoy  the  occasion.  The  building  was  adorned  on 
the  outside  with  flags  and  bunting  and  with  shields  of  the  different 
states  under  the  second  story  windows,  and  on  the  inside  with  bunt- 
ing and  evergreens.  The  first  floor  was  packed  with  visitors,  the 
robes  of  prelates,  vestments  of  priests  and  seminarians,  and  sombre 
garbs  of  religious  orders  giving  touches  of  color  to  the  intermingling 
of  street  attires;  on  the  second  floor  were  robing  and  reception 
rooms,  and  towards  the  landing  there  the  assembled  multitude  kept 
their  eyes  until  eleven  o’clock,  when  Cardinal  Gibbons  began  in  the 
chapel  the  ceremony  of  dedication.  Attended  by  Bishop  John 
Joseph  Keane,  rector  of  the  university,  and  Abbe  Hogan,  and  while 
the  choir  of  seminarians  chanted  the  Veni  Creator  Spiritus  and  the 
Miserere , he  walked  slowly  through  the  arcaded  halls  of  the  first 
floor,  sprinkling  the  holy  water  on  both  sides.  When  the  cardinal 
reentered  the  chapel  to  conclude  the  ceremony,  the  seminarians 
chanted  psalms  CXIX,  CXX,  and  CXXI. 

Only  about  one-tenth  of  those  in  the  building  could  be  accom- 
modated in  the  new  chapel,  but  the  fortunate  ones,  who  included  all 
the  priests  and  prelates,  Senator  John  Sherman,  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture Rusk,  General  Rosecranz,  General  Vincent,  and  other  dis- 
tinguished persons  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  light  streaming  through 
costly  stained-glass  windows,  and  the  decorations  of  flowers  and 
candles  upon  the  main  altar  and  the  twelve  smaller  ones.  The. pon- 
tifical Mass  was  celebrated  by  Archbishop  Satolli,  the  papal  repre- 
sentative, in  the  presence  of  Cardinal  Gibbons  attended  by  Mgr. 
O’Connell,  and  Cardinal  Taschereau  attended  by  Archbishop 
Feehan.  The  celebrant  chose  as  his  assistants  his  former  students 
at  the  college  of  the  propaganda  at  Rome.  They  were  the  Rev. 
Dr.  William  J.  Maher,  of  the  cathedral  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  assistant 
priest,  the  Rev.  John  J.  Sheahan,  of  the  cathedral  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y., 
deacon;  the  Rev.  Dr.T.  F.  Kennedy,  of  Overbrook,  Pa.,  sub-deacon; 
the  Rev.  John  M.  Curley,  of  St.  Michael’s  church,  New  York  city, 
master  of  ceremonies;  J.  Nolan,  of  St.  Mary’s  Seminary,  Baltimore, 
assistant;  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Lang  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Seelinger,  of 
Missouri,  acolytes.  The  Rev.  J.  A.  McCallen,  of  Montreal,  was  master 
of  ceremonies  for  the  day. 

The  music  of  the  Mass  was  by  a picked  choir,  under  Rev.  Joseph 
Graf,  musical  director  of  the  university.  It  consisted  of  the  follow- 
ing members:  First  tenor — Herndon  Morsell,  William  H.  Barnett, 
William  D.  McFarland,  J.  P.  Collins,  A.  S.  Fennell  and  Fred. 
Knoop.  Second  tenor — Lueien  Odenthal,  Wm.  Caulfield,  J.  F. 


Forsyth,  Henry  Jordan,  C.  M.  McConnell  and  J.  C.  Weidman. 
First  bass-  L.  E.  Gannon,  E.  L.  Barbour,  C.  O.  Burg,  M.  A.  Don- 
nelly, L.  Lindheimer  and  G.  B.  Sheriff.  Second  bass — Emil  Holer, 
T.  H.  Nolan,  M.  J.  Grant,  John  Mandsley,  J.  F.  Blois,  P.  H.  Bos- 
well and  W.  A.  Widner.  Prof.  A.  Gloetzner  was  organist,  and  the 
programme  of  the  music  was:  Iutroit,  Gregorian  chant,  gradual, 
J.  Graff;  offertory,  Conjirma  Hoc  Dens,  chorus  a Capella , J.  Graf; 
Kyrie,  Gloria , Credo , and  Agnus,  prize  Mass  in  A minor  for  male 
voices  and  organ  obligato,  by  Rev.  F.  Witt,  I).  I). 

Bishop  Gilmour,  of  Cleveland,  preached  the  sermon. 

bishop  gilmour’s  sermon.  ' 

When  men  erect  buildings  and  establish  institutions,  the  public 
has  a right  to  know  for  what  they  are  to  be  used.  The  wide-spread 
notice  given  the  ceremony  of  to-day,  and  the  earnestness  of  all  con- 
nected with  the  work,  show  the  deep  interest  taken  by  the  public 
in  this  Catholic  university;  nor  without  cause,  for  within  this  build- 
ing principles  are  to  be  taught  and  minds  formed  in  whose  future 
American  society  is  deeply  interested.  Knowledge  and  doctrine 
will  therefore  be  the  objective  work  of  this  institution. 

The  quest  for  knowledge  began  with  the  human  race,  and  the 
progress  of  arts  and  science  is  written  on  every  page  of  history. 
The  acquisitions  of  primeval  man  were  carried  into  the  ark,  and 
afterwards  gave  direction  to  the  daring  that  would  build  a tower 
whose  ruins  are  the  wonder  of  the  modern  archaeologist.  In  the 
hieroglyphics  of  Egypt  is  written  the  advance  of  science,  and  in  the 
ruins  of  Thebes  and  Babylon  the  strength  of  thought. 

In  the  schools  of  Athens  was  found  the  polish  of  Greece,  and  in 
the  wisdom  of  Cato  the  strength  of  Rome.  Saul  drank  in  knowledge 
in  the  schools  of  the  prophets,  whilst  the  poetry  of  David  and  the 
eloquence  of  Isaias  teach  us  that  others  than  Homer  and  Demos- 
thenes were  masters  of  speech.  Solomon  was  taught  of  God,  while 
Moses  was  instructed  in  all  the  knowledge  of  Egypt.  The  eloquence 
of  Paul  and  the  polish  of  John  bespeak  the  literary  culture  of  the 
Jew,  while  Jerusalem,  with  its  temple  of  unparalleled  beaut}',  tells 
the  limit  art  and  science  had  reached.  Knowledge  made  Babylon 
strong,  Greece  cultured,  and  Rome  mistress  of  the  world. 

Civilization  is  limited  only  by  education.  The  civilization  of 
this  nineteenth  century  is  but  the  accumulated  results  of  the 
world’s  history.  The  serpent  tempted  Eve  with  the  offer  of 
knowledge,  and  the  limit  was:  “Ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knowing 
good  and  evil.’’ 

The  appetite  for  knowledge  is  ceaseless,  and  its  possession  but 
increases  its  capacity  for  more.  It  is  also  a significant  fact  that 
from  the  beginning  religion  and  education  have  been  linked  hand 
in  hand.  “Ye  shall  be  as  gods,”  says  the  serpent;  “ Find  knowl- 
edge at  the  lips  of  the  priest,’’  say  the  Scriptures;  “ Go  teach,”  says 
Christ  to  his  apostles. 

The  motive  that  has  brought  here  to-day  the  chief  magistrate 
of  this  great  republic,  and  these  high  dignitaries  of  church  and  state, 
and  this  distinguished  audience  of  the  laity,  is  worthy  of  deepest 
thought.  Kind  friends!  You  are  not  here  to  assist  at  the  dedica- 
tion of  this  fair  building — classic  in  its  lights  and  shades  of  art — to 
the  mere  cultivation  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  valuable  though  they 


86 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


are.  A higher  motive  has  brought  you  here,  and  a higher  motive 
prompted  the  first  munificent  gift  and  subsequent  generosity  that 
have  rendered  this  institution  possible.  This  building  has  just  been 
blessed  and  forever  dedicated  to  the  cultivation  of  the  science  ol 
sciences — the  knowledge  of  God.  It  was  well  to  have  begun  with 
the  divinity  department,  if  for  nothing  else  than  to  teach  that  all 
true  education  must  begin  in  God  and  find  its  truth  and  direction 
in  God. 

Education  has  for  its  motive  the  fitting  and  directing  of  man  in 
his  relations  to  God  and  society.  Man  is  not  for  himself.  He  was 
created  for  a higher  and  a nobler  purpose.  All  things,  from  the 
universe  to  the  grain  of  sand  on  the  sea  shore,  exist  for  the  benefit 
of  others.  In  God,  creation  was  not  necessary:  However,  God  has 
created  that  he  might  bless,  and  creation  is  but  the  extension  of  his 
first  beneficence.  God  is  for  himself ; man  is  not  for  himself ; 
society  is  not  for  itself ; the  state  is  not  for  itself ; the  church  is  not 
for  itself. 

There  are  two  orders  of  society,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal. 
They  are  both  of  God,  and  have  their  rights  and  duties  for  the  weal 
of  man.  In  much  they  are  separate  and  independent;  in  much  they 
are  conjoint  and  correlative.  Man  is  composed  of  body  and  soul,  so 
society  is  composed  of  the  moral  and  the  physical.  The  function  of  the 
state  is  to  deal  with  the  physical;  the  duty  of  religion  is  to  deal 
with  the  moral.  As  in  man  the  body  is  for  the  soul  and  the  soul  for 
the  body,  so  in  society  religion  is  for  the  state  and  the  state  for  relig- 
ion. Their  conjoint  work  is  for  God  and  man.  God  is  glorified  in  man, 
and  man  is  made  happy  in  God,  and  this  conjoint  work  — the  glory 
of  God  and  happiness  of  man — is  the  objective  work  of  religion  and 
state.  In  this  is  found 
the  motive  for  their  ex- 
istence, the  origin  of  their 
authority,  and  their  right 
to  man’s  obedience.  They 
represent  God,  and  each 
in  its  sphere  is  the  ex- 
pression of  God  to  man. 

We  obey  the  state  because 
the  state  represents  God 
in  the  temporal:  “ By  me 
kings  reign  and  princes 
have  their  power.”  We 
accept  religion  because 
religion  represents  God 
in  the  spiritual:  ‘‘He  that 
heareth  you  heareth  me.” 

God  leaves  to  society 
the  right  to  determine  its 
form  of  government  and 
who  shall  be  its  rulers;  God  leaves  to  the  church  the  determina- 
tion and  management  of  the  human  in  her.  In  neither  is  God  or 
God’s  law  responsible  for  the  human  in  them.  In  the  human 
both  depend  on  human  prudence  for  their  success.  In  the  light  of 
these  principles  the  state  is  free  to  change  its  form  of  government, 
as  is  also  religion  free  to  change  its  policy  in  human  affairs.  But 
the  state  is  not  free  to  deny  God  or  to  discard  his  law,  nor  is  relig^ 
ion  free  to  change  what  is  divine.  Both  are  from  God,  and  in  the 
things  of  God  are  immutable. 

There  is  a wide-spread  mistake,  a rapidly  growing  political  and 
social  heresy  which  assumes  and  asserts  that  the  state  is  all  tem- 
poral, and  religion  all  spiritual.  This  is  not  only  a doctrinal  heresy, 
but  if  acted  on  would  end  in  ruin  to  both  spiritual  and  temporal. 
No  more  can  the  state  exist  without  religion  than  can  the  body  exist 
without  the  soul,  and  no  more  can  religion  exist  without  the  state 
and,  on  earth,  carry  on  its  work,  than  can  the  soul,  on  earth,  with- 
out the  body  do  its  work.  The  state,  it  is  true,  is  for  the  temporal, 
but  has  its  substantial  strength  in  the  moral,  while  religion,  it  is  true, 
is  for  the  spiritual,  but  in  much  must  find  its  working  strength  in 
the  temporal.  In  this  sense  it  is  a mistake  to  assume  that  religion 
is  independent  of  the  state,  or  the  state  independent  of  religion.  As 
a matter  of  fact,  religion  must  depend  upon  the  state  in  temporals, 
and,  vice  versa , the  state  must  depend  upon  religion  in  morals,  and 
both  should  so  act  that  their  conjoint  work  will  be  the  temporal  and 
moral  welfare  of  society. 

The  morality  of  the  citizen  is  the  real  strength  of  the  state;  but 
the  teaching  of  morality  is  the  function  of  religion,  and  in  so  much 
is  religion  necessary  to  the  state.  In  this  sense  it  is  foolish  to  assert 
that  religion  is  independent  of  the  state,  or  the  state  is  independent 
of  religion,  or  that  they  can,  or  ought  to  be  separated,  one  from  the 
other. 


In  this  country  we  have  agreed  that  religion  and  the  state  shall 
exist  as  distinct  and  separate  departments,  each  with  its  separate 
rights  and  duties;  but  this  does  not  mean  that  the  state  is  independ- 
ent of  religion,  or  religion  independent  of  the  state.  God  is  as 
necessary  for  the  state  as  he  is  necessary  for  religion.  No  state  can 
exist,  or  should  exist,  that  does  not  recognize  God  as  the  supreme 
authority.  So  far  no  state,  pagan  or  Christian,  has  attempted  to 
rule  without  a god,  false  or  true,  but  a god,  and  a god’s  law  have 
been  accepted  in  every  society  as  the  origin  and  basis  of  the  state’s 
authority.  Woe  be  to  the  state  that  denies  God,  or  attempts  to 
govern  society  without  God  and  God's  law.  Brute  force  is  tyranny; 
moral  force  is  reason.  Man  must  be  governed  by  reason,  not  by 
force,  and  the  state  will  find  its  true  strength  in  the  morality  of  the 
citizen.  God  is  the  strength  of  the  state,  the  guide  of  the  citizen,  and 
the  protection  of  society. 

In  the  past,  states,  pagan  and  Christian  have  been  strong  in 
proportion  as  their  conception  of  God  was  strong,  and  in  proportion 
to  the  vigor  of  their  moral  laws.  Israel  grew  and  prevailed  in 
proportion  as  she  kept  God’s  law.  Rome  and  Greece  were  strong 
because  their  conception  of  God  was  strong.  Mohammedism  lives 
in  its  god  rather  than  in  its  prophet,  and  Buddha  and  Brahmin  hold 
their  own  against  the  world.  In  proportion  as  Christianity  has 
been  accepted  have  science  and  civilization  progressed.  God  is  the 
power  in  law,  and  law  is  the  guide  in  morals,  and  morals  are  the 
strength  of  society.  Hence  religion  must  support  the  state  and  teach 
the  citizen  obedience  to  legitimate  authority.  ‘‘Thou  shalt  not 
kill,”  ‘ ‘ thou  shalt  not  steal,”  ‘‘thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,”  are 
of  more  value  to  the  state  than  all  its  armies  or  navies  combined. 

American  society  has 
been  strong  because  we 
are  and  have  been  a re- 
ligious people.  Our  col- 
onies were  founded  by  men 
preeminently  religious. 
Our  laws  and  constitutions 
are  the  outgrowth  of  the 
Christian  law.  We  are 
strong  because  our  faith 
in  God  is  strong,  and  we 
will  live  and  strengthen 
in  proportion  as  we  are 
guided  by  his  law. 

In  the  light  of  the 
above  fundamental  and 
all-important  truths  it  is 
not  difficult  to  see  how 
valuable  Christian  educa- 
tion is  to  society.  Edu- 
cation refines  society,  elevates  man,  and  directs  all  to  the  higher 
good.  No  nobler  mission  than  that  of  a teacher;  by  office  a leader, 
by  talent  an  inventor,  and  by  genius  an  originator  and  director  of 
power. 

Gioja,  of  Amalfi,  gave  the  mariner’s  compass;  Columbus, 
America;  Watt,  the  steam  engine,  and  Morse,  the  telegraph;  and 
these  four  men  have  revolutionized  the  material  world.  The  single 
thought:  ‘‘No  man  shall  be  oppressed  for  conscience’  sake,”  has 
given  more  peace  and  security  to  society  than  all  the  armies  of  the 
world;  and  that  other  thought,  ‘‘All  men  are  born  free  and  equal,” 
has  given  a continent  its  political  life. 

Now,  in  the  light  of  these  grave  and  fundamental  truths  the 
question  naturally  arises,  ‘‘What  are  the  end  and  scope  of  a uni- 
versity ? ” a question  that  will  be  answered  according  as  we  under- 
stand the  end  and  mission  of  the  educator. 

Education  is  a grave  and  serious  matter.  On  its  character 
society  rises  or  falls,  advances  or  recedes.  The  true  end  of  educa- 
tion is  to  elevate  the  human  race,  purify  morals,  and  direct  societ)^ 
to  a higher  perfection.  Education  must  therefore  embrace  science 
and  religion,  the  former  to  increase  human  happiness,  the  latter  to 
direct  man  to  his  true  end.  Now  the  end  of  man  is  ‘‘to  glorify 
God,  and  enjoy  him  forever,”  or,  in  the  language  of  philosophy, 
“ to  seek  for  the  true  and  the  good.” 

Man  was  made  for  growth.  Creation  is  progressive.  Nothing 
stands  still.  All  flows  on,  like  the  current  of  a deep  and  mighty 
river,  bidding  man  look  forward  and  upward;  increasing  knowl- 
edge, deepening  thought,  purifying  morals,  and  directing  all  to 
God,  the  only  good. 

The  end,  then,  of  a university  is  to  gather  within  its  halls  the 
few  who  are  brighter  in  intellect  and  keener  in  thought,  and  to 
expand  and  vivify  within  them  knowledge;  then  send  them  forth 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


87 


leaders  to  instruct  and  train  the  masses.  Knowledge  is  not  for  its 
possessor,  nor  genius  for  the  individual.  Both  are  gifts  from  God, 
to  be  used  for  the  general  good.  No  greater  mistake  than  for  the 
scholar  or  the  school  to  assume  that  knowledge  is  for  himself,  or 
itself.  The  scholar  belongs  to  neither  race  nor  country.  His  home 
is  the  world,  his  pupil,  man,  and  his  reward,  God.  His  mission  is 
to  know  truth,  and  then  fearlessly  proclaim  it.  He  is  not  to  take 
from  the  masses  nor  swim  with  the  current.  Like  the  general  01 
an  army,  he  must  strike  home  fearlessly  where  ignorance  or  evil 
exists.  God  has  made  him  a leader,  genius  has  gifted  him  with 
power,  and  he  must  not  falter  or  fail  in  the  high  mission  entrusted 
to  him. 

The  tendency  of  the  age  is  to  level  down,  to  make  smatterers 
instead  of  thinkers.  Perhaps  not  since  the  days  of  Plato  and  Cicero 
has  there  been  less  depth  of  thought  than  at  present.  Education 
has  increased  in  quantity,  but  lessened  in  quality.  To  teach  our 
young  to  read  and  write,  and  fit  our  youth  for  the  counting  room,  is 
the  limit  of  our  common  school. 

To  teach  men  to  think,  or  to  direct 
men  to  God,  is  not  in  the  curricu- 
lum of  modern  education.  To  break 
away  from  the  past  is  the  mono- 
mania of  the  day,  and  he  who  does 
that  most  recklessly  is  the  star  in 
the  east.  Amid  this  general  level- 
ling down  and  breaking  away  we 
have  but  faint  echoes  and  fewer 
voices  standing  for  the  truth  or  giv- 
ing sturdy  blows  to  error. 

The  value  of  a trained  special 
education  was  markedly  shown  in 
our  late  desperate  war.  No  braver 
men  ever  entered  an  army  than  our 
volunteer  soldiers,  and  in  the  be- 
ginning it  was  difficult  to  say  who 
was  the  better,  the  volunteer  or  the 
trained  officer.  But  as  the  struggle 
went  on  the  names  of  the  soldiers 
educated  in  the  science  of  war  rose, 
and  in  their  success  showed  clearly 
the  value  of  the  higher  military 
training  they  had  received.  The 
same  is  seen  in  the  medical  and 
legal  professions,  and  the  same  is 
preeminently  seen  in  the  clerical 
profession.  As  a rule  men  will  not 
be  scholars  other  than  by  labored 
study.  Having  widened  the  circle 
of  popular  education,  it  becomes  a 
necessity  to  increase  the  centres 
of  higher  education.  We  have 
Harvard  and  Yale  in  the  non-Cath- 
olic  world,  Georgetown  and  Notre 
Dame  in  the  Catholic  world,  all 
doing  yeoman’s  duty  in  their  line. 

But  the  centres  for  a higher  educa- 
tion are  entirety  too  few  in  the 
country.  Much  has  been  done,  much 
is  doing,  but  much  remains  to  be 
done,  to  train  the  few  to  be  leaders. 

The  education  of  the  masses  has  up  to  this  formed  amongst  us 
the  great  task  of  church  and  state.  With  our  independence  came 
the  readjustment  of  society  in  the  light  of  our  religious  and  civil 
liberty.  Animosities  had  to  be  abated,  new  thoughts  created,  a 
wilderness  cleared,  and  a home  for  the  world  provided.  As  Catho- 
lics, poverty  and  limited  numbers  left  us  crippled,  and  the  terrific 
struggle  to  provide  lodging  and  religious  attendance  for  the  immi- 
grant, estopped  the  possibility  of  higher  education.  Added  to  this 
was  the  organization  of  the  public  schools  which  Catholics  could 
not  in  conscience  use,  thus  imposing  upon  them  the  unjust  burden 
of  building  for  themselves  and  supporting  separate  schools,  whilst 
they  are  taxed  for  the  public  schools.  Catholics  have  no  contention 
with  the  public  schools  because  they  are  public  schools,  nor  because 
they  are  state  schools;  nor  do  Catholics  seek  to  destroy  the  public 
schools.  On  the  contrary,  Catholics  are  willing  to  accept  the  pub- 
lic schools  in  America  as  they  have  done  in  Europe  and  elsewhere, 
on  condition  that  an  arrangement  be  made  by  which  the  child  shall 
be  taught  religion  and  the  laws  of  morality. 

Our  650  colleges  and  academies,  3, 100  parish  schools,  27  semi- 


naries for  the  training  of  the  clergy,  and  two  universities,  are  a 
glorious  galaxy  amid  which  to  plant  this  Catholic  university,  per- 
haps the  first  great  university  of  the  world  begun  without  state  or 
princely  aid,  but  originating  in  the  outpouring  of  public  thought, 
and  founded  and  provided  for  by  the  gifts  of  the  many  rather  than  by 
the  offerings  of  the  few.  It  bespeaks  the  widening  character  of 
American  thought  and  the  existing  conviction  of  the  public  mind 
that  a line  of  higher  studies  is  clearly  needed. 

I11  the  school  and  college  are  the  many  to  be  taught,  but  in  the 
university  the  few.  Here  statesmen  and  churchmen  are  to  be  pre- 
pared, and  through  them  the  masses  moulded  and  society  guided. 
It  was,  therefore,  wise  that  this  university  should  begin  with  the 
divinity  department,  thus  teaching  that  the  true  beginning  of  all 
things  is  God;  that  on  him  depend  life,  liberty,  and  happiness,  and 
without  him  there  can  be  no  permanent  success  in  church  or  state. 
God  is  the  basis  of  society;  God  is  essential  to  success. 

As  a people  we  have  undertaken  the  great  and  wise  task  of 

educating  the  masses,  and  as  far  as 
in  us  lies  providing  that  no  child 
within  this  land  shall  fail  to  know 
how  to  read  and  write.  So  far  so 
good,  and  for  the  average  man  and 
woman  this  is  enough.  But  society 
needs  more  than  this.  Society  needs 
leaders,  educated  men  and  women. 
This  our  common  school  does  not 
give,  cannot  give,  and  never  was 
intended,  or  should  be  intended,  to 
give.  Scholars  are  made  in  colleges 
and  universities.  Now,  I hold,  no 
money  expended  by  church  or  state 
is  of  greater  value  to  society  than 
that  expended  in  founding  and 
maintaining  colleges  and  univer- 
sities, and  providing  a higher  edu- 
cation for  the  talented  of  all  classes. 
The  trend  of  the  day  is  to  the  ac- 
cumulation of  wealth.  A much 
more  healthy  trend  will  be  to  train 
minds  and  create  thinkers,  who  will 
be  as  a breakwater  against  the  dom- 
ination of  wealth.  This  is  needed 
to  stay  in  measure  the  licentious- 
ness of  our  times,  and  the  radical- 
ism with  which  society  is  threat- 
ened. Knowledge  is  better  than 
wealth,  and  intelligence  is  the  only 
true  source  of  power.  Enlightened 
by  human  knowledge  and  guided 
by  divine  law,  man  is  impregnable 
and  society  safe. 

In  the  curriculum  of  this  Cath- 
olic university  the  best  in  each 
of  the  several  branches  will  be 
adopted,  and  in  the  light  of  Europ- 
ean and  American  experience  im- 
proved upon.  In  the  divinity  class 
a broad  and  suggestive  course  will 
be  given,  including  the  best  in  past 
and  present.  In  this  line  science 
ana  revelation  will  be  harmonized,  doubt  dispelled,  and  truth  vin- 
dicated. In  the  department  of  philosophy  the  statesman  will  find 
the  principles  of  government,  and  in  history  the  causes  for  success 
and  the  reasons  for  failure.  In  law  the  good  of  the  past  will  be 
retained  and  its  imperfections  rejected.  In  this  an  effort  should 
be  made  to  lay  aside  the  useless  and  the  obsolete.  The  world 
changes,  and  has  changed;  so  should  law  change  to  suit  the  changed 
condition  of  times  and  places.  This  is  especially  needed  in  eccles- 
iastical law. 

In  this  light  specialists  will  come  to  this  university,  one  to 
study  divinity,  another  Scripture,  or  history,  while  others  will  take 
up  law  and  medicine.  Here  the  philologist  and  scientist  will  find 
the  best,  and  all  will  find  their  noblest  aspirations  enlarged  and 
spurred  on  to  the  full. 

Make  these  higher  studies  popular.  Let  generosity  mark  the 
spirit  of  this  house  of  learning.  Let  its  halls  be  filled  with  the  best 
of  our  youth,  and  let  every  effort  be  made  to  place  this  university  in 
the  front  ranks  of  modern  institutions  of  learning.  But,  above  all, 
let  no  narrowness  seek  to  make  this  the  only  Catholic  university  of 


Rt.  Rev.  J.  J.  Keane,  D.  D.,  Rector,  Catholic  University. 


88 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


this  country.  We  have  broad  lands  and  eager  hearts  elsewhere, 
who  in  time  will  need  new  centres.  Let  the  great  ambition  of  this 
university  be  to  lead  in  all  that  tends  to  elevate  our  race,  benefit  our 
fellow-citizens,  and  bless  our  country. 

Revelation  is  God’s  best  gift  to  man.  The  mission  of  this  uni- 
versity is  to  take  up  all  that  is  good  in  human  knowledge,  purify  it 
in  the  alembic  of  God's  revelation,  and  give  it  back  to  man  blessed 
in  the  light  of  God’s  truth,  increased  in  volume  and  intensified  in 
force,  thus  giving  science  its  direction  and  revelation  its  complement. 

While  Bishop  Gilmour  was  preaching  in  the  university  chapel, 
Father  Fidelis  (the  Rev.  James  Kent  Stone),  from  Brazil,  delivered 
a discourse  on  “The  Vitality  of  the  Church  a Manifestation  of 
God,’’  in  one  of  the  large  halls  of  the  building,  to  those  whom  the 
chapel  was  too  small  to  accommodate. 

FATHER  FIDELIS’ S SERMON. 

Not  unto  us,  O Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy  name  give  glory,  for 
thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth’s  sake;  lest  the  geutiles  should  say  : Where  is 
their  God? — (Ps.  cxiii,  p,  10.) 

My  Christian  Friends  and  Fellow-Countrymen : This  is  a day 
for  us,  not  so  much  of  effort  in  the  initiation  of  a great  work,  but 
rather  of  wonder  and  thanksgiving,  whilst  we  contemplate  the  things 
which  the  omnipotent  God  has  done  for  us  and  among  us.  It  is 
ours  to  gaze  upon  the  evolution  of  God’s  plan,  becoming  intelligible 
before  our  eyes.  It  is  ours  to  stand  still  a moment,  to  stand  like  the 
rescued  people  of  old,  and  behold  what  God  hath  wrought.  We 
have  been  brought  out  of  a land  of  bondage.  Our  fathers  passed 
over  the  Red  Sea  of  obstruction  which  girdled  them  round  as  with 
despair.  They  were  led  through  the  weary  wilderness  of  trial  and 
patient  waiting.  And  now  we,  their  children,  have  come  into  a 
goodly  land,  into  this  land  of  promise,  into  a plenteous  inheritance. 
Here  may  we  sit  at  ease,  each  under  his  vine  and  fig  tree,  with  none 
to  make  us  afraid,  whilst  round  about  on  every  side  the  old  walled 
cities  of  antique  prejudice  are  silently  crumbling,  as  at  the  touch  of 
an  unseen  hand.  Well  may  we  raise  our  hearts  to-day  in  solemn 
rejoicing,  and  break  into  the  oft-sung  words  of  the  psalm  of  deliv- 
erance : “ When  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt,  the  house  of  Jacob  from 
a barbarous  people,  Judea  was  made  his  sanctuary,  Israel  his  domin- 
ion. The  sea  saw  and  fled,  Jordan  was  driven  back.  At  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord  the  earth  was  moved,  at  the  presence  of  the  God 
of  Jacob,  who  turned  the  rock  into  pools  of  water  and  the  stony  hill 
into  fountains  of  water.  Not  unto  us,  O Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto 
thy  name  give  glory,  for  thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth’s  sake.’’ 

I shall  not  attempt,  my  friends,  on  this  occasion  any  formal  or 
academic  discourse,  fit  for  the  opening  of  a new  university.  I leave 
this  task  for  those  to  whom  it  rightly  belongs,  and  to  those  who 
speak  with  authority.  We  stand  only  on  the  skirts  of  the  assembly 
which  has  gathered  together  to  honor  this  festal  day.  I address 
you,  therefore,  as  one  of  yourselves,  as  one  of  the  multitude,  whilst 
I ask  you  to  follow  me  in  a few  reflections  which  will  be  but  the 
carrying  out  of  the  idea  already  touched  on  in  your  hearing,  as 
seeming  to  be  the  natural  and  irrepressible  key  note  of  this  harmon- 
ious celebration.  I offer  you  this  thought,  that  the  vitality  of  the 
Catholic  Church  is  a manifestation  of  God  ; that  the  spectacle  of  the 
church’s  life  and  work,  her  majestic  development,  carries  with  it 
the  conviction  that  the  Almighty  is  operating  by  her  and  in  her, 
and  that  the  finger  of  God  is  here.  I shall  not  endeavor  to  prove 
this  as  a proposition,  but  rather  to  bring  it  home  to  you  as  a fact. 
Scholastic  dissertation  on  such  a subject  would  be  not  merely  out  of 
place,  it  would  be  to  fall  below  the  level  of  our  theme,  and  to  treat 
as  a dead  theorem  what  we  should  rather  gaze  at  as  a living  reality. 
We  are  not  discussing  a doctrine  ; we  are  contemplating  a great,  a 
divine  exhibition  ; it  is  there  before  us ; if  we  will  but  open  the  eyes 
of  our  mind  to  behold  it,  we  can  catch  its  outlines  looming  out  on 
the  slow-moving  canvas  of  time.  And  it  will  be  mine  to-day  simply 
tapoint  you  to  the  picture,  and  then  leave  you  to  your  own  medi- 
tation. 

My  friends,  the  only  hope  for  humanity  is  that  there  is  some- 
where a revelation,  a manifestation  of  God  in  time,  a coming  in  of 
the  infinite  into  this  world  of  ours.  The  woes  of  our  race  are  too 
real,  too  deep,  too  inveterate  to  be  healed  by  any  but  a divine  touch. 
And  yet  the  world  goes  on,  blindly  seeking  some  outlet  from  its 
misery  where,  alas!  there  is  none;  it  dreams  fever-dreams  of  happi- 
ness, and  starts  up  to  find  its  condition  more  hopeless  than  before. 
Century  after  century  passes,  and  still  the  ‘ 1 hungry  generations  ’ ’ 
push  each  other  on,  and  the  cry  of  desperation  grows  wilder  as  civil- 


ization becomes  more  elaborate.  You  believe  in  a God,  ao  you  not? 
(I  speak  to  those  here  present  who  may  not  be  Catholics.)  Yes,  I 
know  you  do,  though  sometimes  you  may  have  been  tempted  to 
doubt  him.  Better  an  infinite  personal  spirit,  directing  all  things 
in  spite  of  apparent  contradiction  and  imperfection,  than  a blind 
impersonal  force,  whirling  us  onward,  we  know  not  whither. 
Materialism  is  too  degrading  a doctrine  to  be  held  by  men  conscious 
of  the  dignity  of  their  own  spiritual  powers;  it  could  find  an  advo- 
cacy only  in  those  baser  passions  of  our  nature  which  would  rise  up 
to  dethrone  spirit,  and  with  it  truth  and  right  and  moral  responsi- 
bility. Yes,  you  believe  in  God,  you  believe  in  him  rather  than 
know  him;  and  this  belief  has  been  to  you  a solace  in  the  midst  of 
much  that  is  dark  and  perplexing.  It  has  gone  before  you,  like  the 
pillar  of  fire  and  cloud,  of  fire  by  night  and  cloud  by  day,  brighter, 
more  distinct,  in  the  darkness  of  silence  and  sorrow  that  shuts  out 
the  landscape  of  this  world,  yet  still  there  amid  the  activity  of 
daily  life,  an  obscure  majestic  column,  pointing  towards  heaven. 
But  if  you  believe  in  God,  you  cannot  doubt  that  he  has  given  us  a 
revelation,  aye,  and  more  than  a revelation,  that  he  has  come  to  the 
rescue  of  his  creatures,  and  supplied  them  with  a remedy  for  their 
ills.  Being  such  as  we  are,  to  hold  that  God  made  us  and  then 
abandoned  us  would  be  to  increase  a hundred  fold  the  intellectual 
misery  of  our  situation.  Plato’s  “ great  hope  ” that  a God  would 
come  and  give  us  ‘ ‘ some  surer  word  ’ ’ than  that  of  human  specula- 
tion is  only  the  lofty  expression  of  that  mute  instinct  wherewith 
the  whole  human  race  looks  upward  with  agonizing  desire  for  help 
and  for  redemption.  And  help  has  come,  in  the  fulness  of  time  it 
came.  Dear  friends,  there  is  but  one  institution  which  can  be  this 
manifestation  of  God  in  time.  If  the  revelation  has  not  been  made 
already,  it  will  never  be  made  at  all.  After  all  these  ages  of  human 
development,  it  is  useless  to  expect  any  other.  The  heavens  will 
not  open  again.  The  race  of  man  has  lived  on  too  long,  is  too  far 
advanced  in  its  manhood  and  in  its  sufferings  to  look  for  a redeemer 
yet  to  come.  And  there  is  only  one  institution  which  claims, 
absolutely,  unflinchingly,  and  to  the  uttermost,  to  be  the  solution 
of  the  difficulties  that  encompass  our  existence.  Either  the  Catho- 
lic Church  is  God’s  agency  set  in  operation  and  maintained  by  him 
for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  or  else  there  is  no  hope  from  God — 
nothing  but  confusion,  and  struggle,  and  blind  alarm,  and  ultimate 
despair. 

Thinking  men  are  everywhere  seeing  this,  this  solemn  alterna- 
tive; and  nowhere  are  they  seeing  it  more  clearly  than  in  this  great 
country  of  ours,  where,  by  the  sweeping  away  of  old  forms  of 
thought,  intellectual  activity  has  been  stimulated  into  a boldness 
and  accuracy  hitherto  unknown  among  the  multitude.  Neverthe- 
less, there  are,  unfortunately,  many  whom  this  alternative  is  driving 
off  into  the  blankness  of  negation,  into  the  darkness  and  the  cold. 
And  why  ? Simply  because  they  started  in  life  with  a presumption 
which  rules  out  the  claims  of  the  Catholic  Church,  a presumption 
instilled  into  them  insensibly  from  the  first  opening  of  their  reason 
— natnel}-,  that  the  old  church  has  been  tried  and  found  wanting; 
that  she  was  cited  at  the  bar  of  history  and  human  experience  and 
condemned  centuries  ago.  Of  Protestantism  as  such  I cannot  stop 
to  speak.  Protestantism  has  had  its  day,  and  is  passing,  as  all 
human  systems  of  philosophy  or  religion  must  surely  pass.  It  was 
an  illogical  effort  of  the  human  mind  to  put  itself  in  possession  of 
revelation  without  the  aid  of  any  authority,  and  all  such  fallacies 
are  exposed  in  the  end  by  the  inexorable  logic  of  time.  But  these 
clear-headed  men  of  whom  I speak,  though  not  Protestants  them- 
selves, are  the  descendants  of  Protestants,  and  they  are  suffering 
from  the  mistakes  of  their  forefathers  ; they  have  inherited  what  has 
been  well  called  the  Protestant  tradition.  And  they  form  a large 
portion,  and,  let  me  most  willingly  say  it,  some  of  the  best  material 
of  this  our  republic.  To  such  as  these,  as  well  as  to  my  Catholic 
brethren,  I would  address  myself. 

We  often  say  that  we  are  passing  through  a period  of  crisis, 
and  that  great  events  are  hastening  to  their  solution.  The  truth  is, 
the  world  is  always  in  a period  of  transition,  and  always  on  the 
brink  of  something  new.  Nevertheless  we  may  safely  say  it,  the 
present  age  is  one  of  unusual  and  momentous  hesitation.  Old  things 
have  passed  away — what  shall  be  the  resultant  of  the  new  forces 
which  have  already  gone  into  operation  ? Whether  to  be  or  not  to 
be  Christian,  this  is  the  question  which  is  confronting  our  modern 
society;  this  is  the  problem  which  is  being  silently  worked  out  in 
many  minds,  which  looms  up  behind  all  political  quarrels,  and  lies 
deeper  than  all  social  questions  or  the  disputes  of  capital  and  labor. 
Whether  to  go  off  into  final  apostasy,  or  to  cling  still  to  the  shreds 
of  hope  which  flutter  towards  us  from  the  torn  garment  of  the  past. 
Oh,  the  choice  is  a cruel  one!  and,  I believe  it,  there  are  many  who, 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


89 


not  with  inward  satisfaction,  but  rather  with 
dire  anguish,  find  themselves  forced  by  stress 
of  reason  into  the  abandonment  of  a creed  which 
once  was  dear  and  still  seems  beautiful. 

O,  my  brethren,  look  well  to  it,  for  the  ques- 
tion, the  choice  is  not  such  as  you  have  supposed. 
To  break  utterly  with  the  past,  and  cast  it  from 
us  as  a thing  outworn,  is  folly,  is  madness.  This 
is  not  the  true  philosophy  of  evolution.  Real 
development  implies  continuity.  And  genuine 
progress,  however  swift  its  march,  is  not  a cutting 
loose  from  the  past,  nor  a plunging  into  the 
darkness.  We  believe  in  an  evolution  more 
certain,  and  a development  more  glorious  than 
any  which  your  modern  scientists  have  dreamed 
of,  because  we  believe  that  God  is  infinite  activity, 
and  that  the  working  out  of  his  plans  will  bring 
order  out  of  chaos  and  lead  from  darkness  into 
light.  The  problem  of  the  present  age  is  to  find 
some  system  of  thought  and  action  which  shall 
combine  perfect  stability  with  limitless  progress; 
and  this  system  is  found  and  can  be  found  only 
in  the  Catholic  Church.  She  lays  her  hand 
upon  the  past,  with  all  its  treasures  ot 
experience,  and  all  that  is  good  in  it  is 
hers;  she  goes  forward  to  meet  the  future 
without  fear  and  with  unalterable  mien, 
for  it  also,  with  all  its  untold  possibil- 


Rt.  Rev.  /Egidius  J unger,  D.  D. 

Bishop  of  Nesqually,  W.  T. 

ities,  shall  be  hers,  to  conquer,  to  inherit, 
and  to  possess.  And  she  is  all  this,  and 
can  do  all  this,  because  she  comes  from 
God,  and  because  the  divine  wisdom 
which  “reaches  from  end  to  end,  directing 
all  things  strongly  and  sweetly,”  is  with  her  and 
dwells  within  her  forever.  She,  the  Catholic 
Church,  is  the  one  thing  in  this  world  possessed 
of  beauty  “'ever  ancient  and  ever  new”;  she  is 
the  prudent  house-holder  of  the  Gospel  who 
bringeth  from  her  treasury  “things  old  and 
new”;  she  is  the  bride  of  the  canticle,  who 
sings  to  her  spouse:  “The  new  and  the  old,  my 
beloved,  I have  kept  for  thee”  ; she  is  the  holy 
city,  the  new  Jerusalem,  “coming  down  from 
God  out  of  heaven,  prepared  as  a bride  adorned 
for  her  husband,”  and  of  her  is  heard  the  great 
voice  from  the  throne,  saying:  “ Behold  the 
tabernacle  of  God  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  people,  and 
God  himself  with  them  shall  be  their  God.“ 
And  He  who  sat  on  the  throne  said:  “ Behold, 
I make  all  things  new.”  O loveliest  vision! 
O fairest  promise!  O sweetest  word  of  God, 
calling  us  away  from  our  dull  despondency,  and 
bidding  us  look  forward  into  the  freshness  of 
the  morning,  to  the  day-dawn  of  that  future 
when  our  utmost  craving  for  all  that  is  new  and 


Rt.  Rev.  John  B.  Brondel,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Helena,  Mont. 


Rt.  Rev.  Nicholas  Lemmens,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Vancouver’s  Island. 

she  organized  a new  civilization  on  the 
wide  ruin  of  the  old;  she  cleared  the 
forest,  and  drained  the  marsh,  and  built 
the  town;  she  covered  Europe  with  her 
cathedrals  and  her  colleges;  she  was  the 
foster-mother  of  learning  and  the  patroness  of 
art;  and  all  the  while  she  forgot  not  that  which 
was  read}'  to  perish, but  in  meekness  and  voluntary 
poverty  she  went  her  ceaseless  rounds  of  mercy, 
she  entered  the  hovel,  the  dungeon,  the  slave- 
mart;  she  ventured  forth,  patient  and  alone,  into 
the  desert  and  the  jungle,  through  cold  and 
heat,  through  fire  and  martyrdom,  pursuing  the 
lost  ones  of  our  race  even  to  the  uttermost  ends 
of  the  earth.  All  this  she  has  done  in  the  past, 
and  much  more.  And  now  she  is  here  in  the  midst 
of  11s.  For  a hundred  years  she  has  been  here, 
and  she  is  at  home  in  this  land.  Look  upon 
her,  I say,  and  tell  me,  what  think  you  of  Christ’s 
church  ? Whose  spouse  is  she  ? Is  her  form 
bent  and  her  forehead  wrinkled  ? Are  her  sandals 
worn,  or  her  garments  moth-eaten  ? Is  her  gait 
halting  and  feeble,  and  does  she  walk  with  tremb- 
ling steps  ? Think  you, forsooth,  that  she  is  afraid 
to  trust  herself  to  our  new  civilization  ? that  she 
clings  reluctant  to  the  mouldering  fashions  of 
an  age  that  has  passed  ? Oh,  see  ! her  face  is 
radiant  and  her  brow  erect  and  star-lit,  and  on 


Most  Rev.  W.  H.  Gross,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  Oregon  City,  Ore. 


beautiful  in  the  perfection  of  our  race  shall  be 
wholly  realized! 

Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  round  about, 
and  tell  me,  my  friends,  whether  you  can  discern 
now  in  this  western  world  of  ours  the  working  of 
that  vitality,  that  young  life  constantly  renewed, 
of  which  I have  been  speaking.  “Behold,  I 
make  all  things  new” — this  is  the  order  of  the 
divine  operation.  The  old  order  changes,  and 
yet  God  himself  changes  not.  So  it  is  with  his 
church.  Her  touch  transforms,  her  spirit  renews 
the  face  of  the  earth;  but  she  herself  remains  the 
same.  She  is  always  the  same  in  her  character, 
her  mission,  her  doctrines,  her  government;  for 
these  are  all  of  God.  But  in  her  dress,  her  step 
and  carriage,  her  mode  of  dealing  with  races  and 
nations,  she  may  vary,  for  in  these  things  she 
is  capable  of  an  infinite  adaptability.  She  proves 
all  things,  and  holds  fast  only  that  which  is  good; 
she  shakes  loose  and  casts  from  her  that  which 
time  has  shown  to  be  outworn  and  worthless; 
she  perpetually  dismembers  herself,  and  clad  in 
divine  panoply  stands  forth  for  combat  or  for  suf- 
fering. ■ She  has  waited  in  the  wilderness, 
and  crouched  in  the  catacombs;  and  from 
her  throne  of  honor  she  has  ruled  the 
world  with  more  than  regal  sway;  she 
met  the  barbarian  and  curbed  his  rage; 


Rt.  Rev.  A.  J.  Glorieux,  1).  D., 
Vicar-Apostolic  of  Idaho. 


go 


DEDICA  TION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


her  lips  is  the  smile  of  peace;  her  robes  are  beautiful  with  variety,  and 
fragrant  as  with  spices;  and  the  step  with  which  she  advances  is  elastic 
with  triumph.  Vera  incessu  patuit  dca.  Her  movement  betrays  her 
divinity.  She  is  the  daughter  of  the  king. 

The  work  which  the  Catholic  Church  has  accomplished  in  this 
country  during  the  century  which  we  are  here  bringing  to  a close 
is  the  same  which  she  has  done  in  other  ages  and  in  other  lands,  but 
she  has  done  it  in  a new  way,  and  in  her  own  way.  She  has  taken 
hold  of  new  conditions  of  things  and  adapted  herself  to  them;  and  the 
result  of  her  work  is  a structure  distinctive  and  typical  of  the  age 
and  country  in  which  we  live,  and  differing  from  anything  that  has 
preceded  it,  as  truly  as  the  church  of  the  middle  ages  differed  from 
the  church  of  the  fathers.  And  mind  you — for  this  is  the  point  of  all 
my  discourse — she  has  done  this,  not  by  any  prudence  of  human 
forethought,  not  by  any  cunning  adaptation  of  policy,  but  simply 
because  she  is  a living  force,  capable  of  acting  in  all  times  and  in  all 
places,  so  that  she  has  become  American  without  ceasing  for  an 
instant  to  be  Catholic;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  in  endowing  us  with 
all  that  is  truly  hers,  she  has  not  thwarted  or  crippled,  but  rather 
appropriated  and  vivified,  all  that  is  best  and  noblest  in  our  national 
character. 

Therefore,  in  inaugurating  to-day  the  work  of  the  first  American 
Catholic  university,  we  feel  that  we  are  the  privileged  agents  of  God 
in  carrying  on  the  operations  of  his  holy  church.  If  you  have  read 
history,  however  slightly,  you  know,  my  friends,  that  the  great  uni- 
versities of  Christendom  were  Catholic  in  their  origin.  Long  before 
the  outbreak  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  old  cathedral  and  monastic 
schools  had  developed  into  seats  of  learning,  which  dotted  every  land, 
until  the  youth  of  Europe  grew  into  an  army  of  scholastic  enthusiasts. 
Well,  therefore,  may  we  feel  that  in  what  we  behold  accomplished  this 
day,  there  is  nothing  forced,  or  rash,  or  immature.  Surely  the  time 
had  come  for  such  work,  and  surely  it  was  fitting  that  the  church  in 
America  should  crown  her  first  century  of  progress  by  calling  into  ex- 
istence an  institution  which  vindicates  once  more  her  claim  to  an 
undying  vitality.  The  days  of  darkness  are  over;  the  long  winter  of 
poverty  and  struggle  is  ended.  A brighter  era  has  dawned  at  last. 

“ Arise,  shine,  O Jerusalem,  for  thy  light  has  come,  and  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  has  risen  upon  thee  ! ” 

And  now,  my  friends,  before  we  part,  suffer  me  to  bring  home  to 
your  minds  the  subject  we  have  been  treating,  and  to  do  so  in  as  brief 
and  earnest  a manner  as  I can.  I admit  fully  that  the  church  makes 
no  claim  upon  your  faith  which  can  compel  your  assent.  It  is  quite 
possible  to  doubt  her,  to  reject  her.  But  are  you  justified  in  reject- 
ing her?  Are  not  the  proofs  of  her  claims  sufficient  ? See,  my  friend, 
you  believe  in  God;  but  God  does  not  compel  your  belief.  He  leaves 
you  free  to  deny  him.  He  does  not  dazzle  and  confound  your  intel- 
ligence by  a full  manifestation  of  his  glory.  He  veils  himself,  leaving 
you  proof  enough  for  certainty,  while  the  very  obscurity  wherewith  he 
shrouds  himself  makes  of  your  faith  a virtue.  Now  I say  that  as 
surely  as  there  is  a God  in  heaven,  just  so  surely  the  Catholic  Church 
is  his  representative  on  earth.  The  evidence  in  the  one  case  is  as 
abundant,  as  convincing  as  in  the  other.  And  the  proof  in  either 
case  is  not  direct;  it  is  cumulative;  and  let  me  also  add,  it  is  over- 
whelming. 

Jesus  Christ  has  said,  “Will  ye  also  go  away?”  And  again, 
“ Blessed  is  he  whosoever  shall  not  be  scandalized  in  me.’’  Wherein 
lies  the  secret  of  this  scandal,  this  offence?  It  lies  in  that  very  self- 
same thing  which  is  the  secret  of  the  church’s  life  and  power.  I say 
it,  my  friends,  with  solemn  emphasis,  the  scandal  which  turns  so  many 
backward  is  the  offence  of  the  cross.  And  it  is  the  cross  of  Christ, 
the  preaching  of  the  cross,  the  imitation  of  the  passion,  the  life  of 
sacrifice,  the  principle  of  heroism,  which  is  not  merely  the  church’s 
inheritance,  but  which  gives  her  her  glorious  inspiration  and  consti- 
tutes her  undying  force.  Outside  of  the  Catholic  Church  the  doctrine 
of  the  cross  has  faded  into  a vague  tradition.  There  are  many  who 
profess  to  believe  in  the  Son  of  God,  but  the  mystery  of  his  cross  and 
passion  has  become  for  them  a sentimental  abstraction  or  a cold  philos- 
ophy. Oh  that  those  whose  hearts  can  still  be  stirred  by  the  contem- 
plation of  the  most  wondrous  tragedy  the  world  has  ever  witnessed 
might  come  to  learn  thaj  there  exists  on  earth  a kingdom  of  souls 
in  which  Jesus  Christ  is  loved,  and  worshipped,  and  imitated  with 
a passionate  devotion  unknown  to  them  in  their  forlorn  isolation! 
The  life  of  Christ  is  the  life  of  his  church,  but  it  is  a life  purchased 
by  suffering  and  death.  He  is  risen,  and  is  with  her  still;  and 
as  he  died  and  rose  again,  so  she  dies  with  him  continually,  and 
rises  into  a life  new  and  immortal.  See!  in  this  nineteenth  century 
she  has  risen  again  before  your  very  eyes!  Death  hath  no  more 
dominion  over  her. 


THE  BANQUET. 

Following  the  sermons  came  the  banquet  in  the  refectory  under 
the  chapel,  while  all  visitors  except  those  specially  invited  were  enter- 
tained in  one  of  the  rooms  on  the  west  side  of  the  hall.  As  the  semi- 
narians had  begun  to  chant  the  Veni  Creator  Spiritus,  they  were  accom- 
panied by  Sousa’s  Marine  band,  which,  during  the  day,  played  the 
following  programme : 

Grande  Marche  du  Sacre — “Coronation,”  Meyerbeer. 

Overture — “ Festival;”  Leutner. 

Collocation — “ Tannhauser,  ” Wagner. 

Pastorale — “ Earl  of  Dunmore.  ” 

“A  Summer  Day  in  Norway,”  Willmer. 

“Power  and  Love”  (from  “ Redemption”),  Gounod. 

“A  Musical  Bouquet,”  Gasemer. 

“ A Fairy  Tale,”  Bach. 

Chorus — “LaCarita,’’  Rossini. 

Patriotic  songs  of  the  United  States. 

As  the  guests  filed  into  the  dining  room  they  were  delighted  to 
catch  a glimpse,  through  the  window,  of  a magnificent  rainbow,  span- 
ning the  eastern  sky,  and  all  considered  it  a good  sign  of  promise  for 
the  young  institution.  Besides  the  decorations  of  green  and  divers  other 
colors,  and  of  the  shields  of  sister  intitutions  upon  the  walls  of  the 
banquet  hall,  were  portraits  of  Cardinals  Manning  and  McCloskey,  and 
over  the  alcove  near  which  sat  Cardinal  Gibbons,  was  the  inscription 
Deus  Lux  Mca.  Cardinal  Gibbons  had  Cardinal  Taschereau  on  his 
right  and  Archbishop  Satolli  on  his  left. 

Bishop  Keane,  the  rector,  was  toastmaster.  He  said  : 

This  is  a gathering  representative  of  the  whole  Catholic  world, 
for  here  can  be  found  delegates,  one  might  say,  from  the  various 
quarters  of  civilization.  We  assemble  to  do  honor  to  our  country  and 
to  pay  homage  to  our  Holy  Father,  Pope  Leo,  who  has  ever  shown 
himself  the  faithful  friend  of  America.  We  tender  our  sincere  grati- 
tude in  the  toast,  “To  His  Holiness,  Pope  Leo  XIII.”  We  have  here 
his  representative  directly  from  Rome  in  the  person  of  Mgr.  Satolli, 
who  will  respond. 

The  Papal  delegate,  Archbishop  Satolli  spoke  in  Latin.  He  said: 

Rome  has  been  the  home  of  culture  and  civilization.  When  the 
great  Roman  empire  fell,  Christian  priests  saved  literature  and  art,  and 
spread  their  influence  among  the  barbarians  who  were  our  ancestors. 
Around  churches  the  states  were  grouped,  and  here  in  America  Catho- 
lic missionaries  explored  the  country,  followed  the  courses  of  the 
streams,  delved  into  the  forests  and  opened  the  country  to  that  great 
civilization  which  is  yours  to-day.  The  conclave  which  elevated  Car- 
dinal Pecci,  on  Feburary  20,  1878,  to  be  the  pope,  manifested  a 
splendid  choice.  It  must  have  been  a great  satisfaction  to  him  that 
the  clergy  of  the  entire  Catholic  world  have  joined  in  the  present  great 
Catholic  events  of  America,  which  manifest  a unity  between  the  clergy 
and  laymen  of  the  American  Catholic  Church.  God  loves  America. 
It  is  Leo’s  feeling  that  this  is  true,  and  he  believes  therefore,  that  in 
America  nothing  is  impossible. 

Here  Bishop  Keane  arose  with  a cablegram  in  his  hand.  He 
said:  “The  Pope  thinks  always  of  us,  and  even  now  I have  just 

received  a telegram,  which  says: 

“ ‘The  Holy  Father  sends  blessing  and  congratulation.  God 
bless  our  Holy  Father.  ‘Dr.  Farelly. ’ ” 

Bishop  Keane  continued:  “The  pope,  as  Mgr.  Satolli  says,  feels 
that  nothing  in  America  in  impossible,  and  we  all  feel  that  the  pope  is 
entirely  right.  God  bless  our  country,  and  blessings  on  the  president 
of  the  United  States.” 

Secretary  James  G.  Blaine  responding  for  “Our  Country  and  Her 
President,”  said: 

I came  to  this  banquet  to  represent  the  United  States,  not  in  a 
political  sense,  much  less  a partisan  one,  and  not  in  a sense  in  any 
way  to  conflict  with  any  church  or  sect  or  principle  of  religion.  To 
the  gentleman  who  proposed  the  toast,  I reply  with  no  eulogy  of  the 
president — it  is  enough  to  say  he  stands  as  the  guarantor  of  the  rights 
of  all  our  people  under  the  constitution.  He  stands  for  right  and 
justice,  and  right  and  justice  will  be  administered  in  the  United  States. 

Every  college  in  the  United  States  increases  the  culture  of  the 
United  States.  We  have  the  criticism  of  an  English  traveller,  who 
declared  America  is  the  most  intelligent  land  in  the  world  and  the  least 


DEDICA  TION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


9i 


highly  cultivated.  Universities  will  in  time  give 
us  a great  excellence  in  learning,  as  the  country 
has  now  the  power  and  ability  to  conduct  a gov- 
ernment under  which  all  are  equal  and  under 
which  every  church  shall  have  full  freedom. 

Cardinal  Taschereau  spoke  for  “Our  Sister 
Universities,’’  eloquently  outlining  their  scope  and 
achievements.  He  thus  gracefully  preluded  his 
speech,  which  was  in  French  : 

The  present  is  a troublous  time  for  the  holy 
church  because  of  the  intense  opposition  of  the 
potentates  of  Europe.  In  this  country  there  is  full 
freedom  and  there  is  great  comfort  in  the  uni- 
versal confidence  placed  in  Cardinal  Gibbons  as 
the  glorious  representative  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  America,  which  church  is  entirely  independent 
save  in  its  connection  with  the  pope. 

The  strains  of  “Hail  to  the  Chief”  an- 


Rt. Rev.  James  Ryan,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Alton,  111. 


Our  bishops  have  been  speaking  of  the  weather 
to-day  and  the  inclement  day  upon  which  the  cor- 
ner stone  of  the  university  was  laid.  The  presence 
in  such  tempestuous  weather  of  bishops  from  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  shows  this  to  be  an  event  of 
more  than  local  significance,  in  connection  with 
the  acceptance  of  the  president  and  the  other  gentle- 
men of  our  invitation.  The  bishops  of  the  church 
strive  for  religion  which  upholds  the  government, 
and  strengthens  the  government  to  uphold  religion. 
It  ought  to  be  a delight  for  each  to  uphold  the 
other.  In  olden  times  the  church  admonished 
obedience  to  rulers,  when  they  were  even  obnoxious. 
How  much  more  now  can  it  do  so  where  whole- 
some laws  are  made  to  foster  the  family  and  better 
society?  A government  is  pleasing  to  God  when 
it  is  in  harmony.  And  how  good  it  is  when  both 
clergymen  and  laymen,  each  working  in  his  indi- 
vidual capacity,  bring  about  harmony!  I hope 
God  will  bless  this  institution  and  all  who  have 
assembled  here. 

Archbishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia, 
being  requested  by  the  cardinal  to  respond 
to  the  toast,  “ The  Hierarchy  of  the  United 
States,”  which  had  been  assigned  to  His 


Rt.  Rev.  John  L.  Spalding,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Peoria,  111. 

Eminence,  said  that  the  request  to  speak 
had  come  from  the  cardinal  on  his  arrival 


President  Morton  and  Mrs.  Morton,  who 
were  seated  opposite  the  cardinals.  With 


Rt.  Rev.  John  Janssen,  D.  D., 

Bishop  of  Belleville,  111. 

the  president  and  vice-president  there  were 
seated  at  the  cardinal’s  table  Cardinals 


nounced  the  arrival  of  President  Harrison,  who 
was  escorted  to  the  dining  hall  by  the  vice-rector, 

Dr.  Garrigan.  He  was  seated  to  the  left  

of  Cardinal  Gibbons.  Then  came  Vice- 


Gibbons  and  Taschereau,  Archbishop  Ba- 
tolli,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  Tracy,  Secre- 
tary of  Agriculture  Rusk,  Bishop  Keane,  Secretary 
of  State  Blaine,  Attorney-General  Miller,  Arch- 
bishop Williams,  of  Boston,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  Windom,  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Noble, 
Archbishop  Duhamel,  Secretary  of  War  Proctor, 
Archbishop  O’Brien,  Archbishop  Fabre,  Arch- 
bishop Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Archbishop  Ire- 
land, of  St.  Paul. 

The  president,  called  on  for  a speech,  said 
that  he  had  heretofore  avoided  speech  making  on 
occasions  of  this  kind,  and  begged  the  assemblage 
to  allow  him  simply  to  thank  them  for  their  kindly 
greeting.  Cardinal  Gibbons  then  said  : 

We  have  all  been  more  than  anxious  for  the 
visit  of  the  president,  the  vice-president,  and  mem- 
bers of  the  cabinet,  who  have  honored  the  uni- 
versity by  their  presence.  They  assure  us  of  their 
sympathy  for  every  cause  to  promote  the  religion 
and  morality  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
Though  there  is  no  union  of  church  and  state  in 
any  sense,  the  people  have  always  upheld  religion. 


Most  Rev.  Patrick  A.  Feehan,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  Chicago,  111. 


Cathedral  of  the  Holy  Name, 
Chicago,  III. 


at  the  university  a few  hours  ago,  and 
that  in  the  meantime  he  (the  archbishop) 
attended  the  opening  ceremonies,  and  had  little 
time  to  think.  He  narrated  the  incident  of  one 
of  the  IVench  generals,  having  written  a play  which 
was  not  successful,  some  of  the  courtiers  of  Napo- 
leon, and  even  the  great  emperor  himself,  rather 
twitted  him  on  the  subject.  “ Sire,”  replied  the 
general,  “it  is  an  extremely  difficult  thing  to  write 
a play. ” “Certainly  it  is,”  replied  the  emperor; 
“but  it  is  not  a difficult  thing  not  to  write  a play.” 
Under  the  present  circumstances,  he  should  be 
happy  to  select  the  more  prudent  course  of  not 
making  a speech,  but  for  the  urgency  of  His  Emi- 
nence. The  archbishop  then  alluded  to  our  Lord 
as  the  great  model  bishop  of  our  souls,  as  he  was 
the  universal  model  for  every  station  in  life.  Our 
highest  ideal  of  a secular  man  is  expressed  by  the 
term  gentleman — one  gentle,  yet  manly;  manly,  yet 
gentle.  These  two  classes  of  qualities  met  in  the 
humanity  of  our  Lord,  and  should  meet  in  the 
Christian  bishop.  But  as  there  are  no  two  things 


92 


DEDICA  TION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


in  nature  alike,  and  each  man  has  his  individuality,  which  he  should 
act  out  according  to  reason  and  religion,  without  trying  to  be  some 
other  man,  so  the  quality  of  gentleness  will  become  more  visible  in 
some  and  that  of  manliness  in  others.  Bishops  are  no  exception  to 
this  rule ; not  that  the  manly  are  not  gentle,  nor  the  gentle  not  manly, 
but  the  distinguishing  individuality  will  thus  classify  them.  Some 
bishops  have  gentleness  as  a “Christian  Heritage”  coming  down  with 
“The  Faith  of  our  Fathers”;  and  others  have  the  quiet,  mossy  surface 
beneath  which  is  the  solid  rock,  and  their  motto  might  be,  Dominus 
Petra  Mea,  “the  Lord  is  my  rock.  ” Others  are  naturally  brave,  and, 
when  necessary,  aggressive,  have  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  church, 
and  even  if  not  always  successful  these  defeats  are  triumphant  ones, 
like  that  of  Thermopylae.  He  spoke  of  the  devoted  bishops  who  stood 
bravely  at  their  posts  in  the  time  of  the  yellow  fever,  and  though 
subsequently  relieved  of  their  dioceses,  and  promoted  to  higher  places, 
went  back  in  the  hour  of  pestilence  to  aid  the  priests  of  their  former 
diocese.  “Such  men,”  he  said,  “would  lift  their  mitres  as  the  twenty- 
four  elders  lift  their  crowns,  before  the  throne.”  He  spoke  of  the 
great  busy  bishops  who  had  been  battling  with  the  difficulties  of  new 
surroundings,  whose  zeal  no  man  could  attribute  to  anything  but  the 
Pentecostal  inspiration  of  the  apostles,  and  who  certainly  are  not 
mere  “consecrated  blizzards,”  nor  men  filled  with  “new  wine.” 
(This  allusion  was  at  once  fixed  by  the  audience  on  Archbishop 
Ireland,  of  St.  Paul.)  Others  there  were  who  physically  and  intellect- 
ually represented  great  cities—  represented  them  in  everything  except 
retiring  modesty.  For  whilst  the  bishop  was  modesty  itself,  the 
modesty  of  the  city  was  certainly  not  visible  to  the  naked  eye.  Others 
again  were  noted  for  consummate  prudence,  which,  though  a cardinal 
virtue,  was  not  to  be  monopolized  by  the  sacred  college.  Prudence 
regulates  all  the  virtues,  which,  like  spokes  of  a wheel  move  around 
the  “ Hub.”  So  with  this  class  of  great  bishops. 

Archbishop  Ryan  continued  in  this  strain  for  some  time,  then 
alluded  to  the  distinguished  visitors  present,  and  to  the  great  occasion 
which  called  forth  this  magnificent  demonstration. 

John  Boyle  O’Reilly  responded  to  the  toast  “The  Press,  the 
Co-educator  of  the  World,”  in  a poem: 

FROM  THE  HEIGHTS. 

“ Come  to  me  for  wisdom,”  said  the  mountain; 

“ In  the  valley  and  the  plain 

There  is  knowledge  dimmed  with  sorrow  in  the  gain; 

There  is  effort,  with  its  hope  like  a fountain; 

There,  the  chained  rebel,  passion, 

Laboring  strength,  and  fleeting  fashion- 
There,  ambition’s  leaping  flame, 

And  the  iris-crown  of  fame. 

But  those  gains  are  dear  forever 
Won  from  loss  and  pain  and  fever 
Nature’s  gospel  never  changes; 

Every  sudden  force  deranges; 

Blind  endeavor  is  not  wise: 

Wisdom  enters  through  the  eyes; 

And  the  seer  is  the  knower, 

Is  the  doer  and  the  sower.” 

“ Come  to  me  for  riches,”  said  the  peak; 

“ I am  leafless,  cold,  and  calm; 

But  the  treasures  of  the  lily  and  the  palm — 

They  are  mine  to  bestow  on  those  who  seek. 

I am  gift  and  I am  giver 
To  the  verdured  fields  below, 

As  the  motherhood  of  snow 
Daily  gives  the  new-born  river. 

As  a watcher  on  a tower, 

Listening  to  the  evening  hour, 

Sees  the  roads  diverge  and  blend. 

Sees  the  wandering  currents  end 
Where  the  moveless  waters  shine 
On  the  far  horizon  line — 

All  the  storied  past  is  mine; 

All  its  strange  beliefs  still  clinging; 

All  its  singers  and  its  singing; 

All  the  paths  that  led  astray, 

All  the  meteors  once  called  day; 

All  the  stars  that  rose  to  shine — 

Come  to  me — for  all  are  mine!” 

“ Come  to  me  for  safety,”  said  the  height; 

“ In  the  future,  as  the  past, 

Road  and  river  end  at  last 


In  the  bosom  of  the  ever  waiting  sea. 

Who  shall  know  by  lessened  sight 
Where  the  gain  and  where  the  loss 
In  the  desert  they  must  cross? 

Guides  who  lead  their  charge  from  ills 
Passing  soon  from  town  to  town, 

Through  the  forest  and  the  down, 

Take  direction  from  the  hills; 

Those  who  range  a wider  land 
Higher  climb,  until  they  stand 
Where  the  past  and  future  swing 
Round  them  like  an  ocean  ring; 

Those  who  sail  from  land  afar 
Leap  from  mountain  top  to  star. 

Higher  still,  from  star  to  God, 

Have  the  spirit  pilots  trod. 

Setting  lights  for  mind  and  soul, 

That  the  ships  may  reach  their  goal. 

‘ They  shall  safely  steer  who  see; 

Sight  is  wisdom.  Come  to  me!” 

Cablegrams  were  then  read  by  Bishop  Keane,  as  follows : 

Paris,  November  13. — I deeply  regret  not  being  able  to  be 
with  you.  My  heart  shall  always  be  with  you. 

Mary  Gwendolen  Caldwell. 

Paris,  November  13 — Heartiest  congratulations  and  most  earn- 
est wishes  for  your  success  in  your  great  work.  Lina  Caldwell.  . 

Rome,  Italy,  November  13. — A thousand  sympathetic  compli- 
ments for  the  magnificent  work  consecrated  to-day. 

Princess  Borghese. 

Rome,  Italy,  November  13. — Accept  our  heartiest  congratula- 
tions and  wishes  for  great  success. 

Students  of  American  College. 

The  guests  invited  to  the  banquet  were  : President  Harrison, 
Secretary  Blaine,  Bishops  Wigger,  Maes,  Gallagher,  Rademacher, 
Conroy,  Flasch,  Northrop,  Richter,  Glorieux,  Archbishop  Salpointe, 
Thomas  E.  Waggaman,  Bishop  de  Goesbriand,  Mile,  de  Meaux, 
Bishop  Hennessey,  Senator  Kernan,  Miss  J.  Riggs,  Michael  Jenkins, 
M rs.  Hoguet,  Senator  Dolph,  Bishop  Muller,  Bishop  Loughlin, 
Vicomte  de  Meaux,  Mrs.  Mifflin,  John  Boyle  O’Reilly,  Bishop  Fitz- 
gerald, Major  Byrne,  Bishop  O’Hara,  Mr.  Varas,  Bishop  Ryan,  Mr. 
Justice  Lamar,  Bishop  O’Reilly,  Bishop  Keane,  Archbishop  Williams, 
Secretary  Windom,  Bishop  Virtue,  Archbishop  O’Brien,  Secretary 
Proctor,  Archbishop  Fabre,  Secretary  Tracy,  Archbishop  Ireland. 
Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  Vice-President  Morton,  Archbishop 
Satolli,  Cardinal  Taschereau,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Archbishop  Duhamel, 
Secretary  Noble,  Secretary  Rusk,  Archbishops  Corrigan,  Feehan, 
Gross,  Elder,  Ryan,  Riordan,  Heiss,  Janssens,  Montes  D’Oca,  Bishops 
Fink,  Wadhams,  Seidenbush,  O’Connor,  Chatard,  Vertin,  O’Farrell, 
Dwenger,  Gilmour,  Kain,  Moore,  McMahon,  Brondel,  Watterson, 
McIntyre,  Lafleche,  Cleary,  Lorrain,  Phelan,  Rogers,  Walsh,  Bour- 
gade,  Gravel,  Miss  Dana,  John  Lee  Carroll,  Capt.  Meade,  Miss  H. 
Dana,  J.  H.  Regan,  Mrs.  Montgomery,  Joseph  Borizan,  Gen.  Rose- 
crans,  Miss  Mason,  Count  D’Arschot,  Col.  Berrett,  Mrs.  Morrell,  Mr. 
Childs,  Miss  Drexel,  Eugene  Kelly,  Commissioner  L.  G.  Hine,  Hon. 
L.  E.  McComas,  Martin  F.  Morris,  J.  W.  Jenkins,  Hon.  Barnes  Comp- 
ton, Hon.  H.  Mercier. 

After  dinner  all  adjourned  to  the  parlor,  where,  together  with  an 
illuminated  address,  Mgr.  Gadd  presented  to  the  directors  of  the  uni- 
versity the  bust  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  from  the  colony  of  Catholic 
English  and  Irish  in  Rome.  Bishop  Keane  accepted  the  gift  with 
thanks,  and  after  an  address  in  French  by  Vicomte  de  Montalem- 
bert,  on  behalf  of  the  universities  of  Paris  and  Lyons,  Mgr.  Benjamin 
Paquet,  rector  of  the  Laval  University  of  Quebec,  gave  to  Bishop 
Keane  the  diploma  conferring  upon  him  the  degree  of  doctor  in 
divinity.  In  French,  he  said  : “ I am  happy  in  conferring  the  degree 

of  doctor  of  divinity  upon  the  university’s  distinguished  rector.  It  is 
not  given  because  you  need  or  require  it,  as  you  know-  full  well, 
but  it  is  conferred  as  the  honor  in  which  you  are  held,  and  a token  of 
our  best  w-ishes,  and  to  convey  to  your  mind  that  in  the  extension  of 
intellectual  pursuits  and  the  promotion  of  study  the  United  States  are 
annexed  to  Canada  already.  Receive,  then,  the  annexation  papers.” 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


93 


The  address  sent  with  the  bust  is  as  follows: 

To  the  Right  Reverend  Bishop  Keane,  Rector 
of  the  Catholic  University  of  Washington 

My  Lord  Bishop:  In  presenting,  on  behalf 
of  the  Catholics  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in 
Rome,  this  marble  bust  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
to  the  Catholic  university  of  Washington,  through 
your  lordship,  its  first  rector,  we,  the  members  of 
the  presentation  committee,  desire  to  express  the 
deep  interest  which  we  feel  in  your  great  under- 
taking, and  our  most  ardent  wishes  for  its  success. 

The  privileges  granted  to  the  new  university 
by  the  Holy  See  are  a fresh  proof  of  the  paternal 
charity  and  wisdom  of  the  sovereign  pontiffs,  who, 
in  desiring  the  conversion  of  all  men  to  the  true 
faith,  have  endeavored  also  to  provide  them  with  a 
solid  and  enlightened  education — an  education 
including  all  the  cultivation  of  which  the  human 
mind  is  capable  in  philosophy,  theology,  science, 
literature,  and  art.  Such  was  the  education  intro- 
duced into  England  by  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  who 
sent  St.  Augustine  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
English  people;  it  had  been  introduced  170 
t ears  before  among  the  Irish  and  Scotch 
by  St.  Celestine,  and  the  same  stream  of 
Christian  learning,  ever  flowing  from  its 


We  are,  my  lord  bishop,  with  profound  respect, 
your  lordship’s  faithful  and  devoted  servants, 
Tobias  Kirby,  Archbishop  of  Ephesus; 

Edmund  Stonor,  Archbishop  of  Trebizond; 

James  A.  Campbell,  Rector  of  the  Scots’  College; 
William  Giles,  Rector  of  the  English  College. 
Elizabeth  Herbert,  of  Lea, 

Alexander  G.  Fullerton, 

Kenelm  Vaughan. 

The  following  address  was  presented  by  Mgr. 
Gadd,  from  the  professors  of  St.  Cuthbert’s  Col- 
lege, Ushaw,  England: 

St.  Cuthbert’s  College, 

Ushaw,  Durham,  England,  November  3,  1889. 

My  Dear  Lord:  On  occasion  of  the  solemn 
inauguration  of  the  Catholic  university  of  Washing- 
ton, I desire  to  convey  to  your  lordship,  in  the  name 
of  my  fellow-professors,  and  my  own,  our  warmest 
congratulations  and  heartfelt  joy.  For  more  than 
a quarter  of  a century,  the  establishment  of  a 
Catholic  university  has  occupied  the  minds  of  their 
lordships,  the  bishops  of  the  United  States.  For 
they  felt  that  the  intellectual  needs  of 
their  country  could  only  be  adequately  met 
by  a seat  of  the  highest  learning,  a nur- 
sery of  literature,  art,  and  science,  similar 


■ 


Rt.  Rev.  Lilian  C.  Flasch,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  La  Crosse,  Wis. 


infallible  source,  has  continued  to  this  day, 
and  has  now  brought  to  the  United  States 
of  America  the  Catholic  university  of 
Washington,  which  is  destined  to  fill  a 
great  place  in  the  history  of  the  English-speaking 
races  throughout  the  world. 

But,  besides  the  expression  of  our  deep  inter- 
est and  ardent  wishes  we  desire  by  this  presenta- 
tion to  draw  closer,  under  the  glorious  patronage 
of  the  angelic  doctor,  St.  Thomas,  the  links  which 
already  bind  us  together;  so  that  we,  who  are  mem- 
bers of  the  same  Christian  family,  and  of  kindred 
blood,  may  become  more  and  more  united  in  faith, 
hope,  and  charity. 

With  this  pledge  of  our  brotherly  love  we  offer 
to  your  lordship  our  heartfelt  congratulations  on 
the  centenary  of  the  foundation  of  your  noble 
episcopate,  which,  springing  from  a single  see, 
overshadows  at  this  day  with  its  pastoral  care  your 
vast  commonwealth. 

The  sentiments  which  we  have  briefly  ex- 
pressed are,  we  do  not  doubt,  abundantly  shared 
by  your  lordship,  and  we  feel  sure  that  in  ac- 
cepting our  humble  offering  your  lordship  and 
the  university  will  look  less  to  its  intrinsic  value 
than  to  the  spirit  of  Catholic  unity  of  which  it 
is  a proof. 


Most  Rev.  Michael  Heiss,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  Milwaukee,  Wis. 


Rt.  Rev.  Ignatius  Mrak,  D.  D., 
Resigned  See  of  Marquette  and  Sault 
Ste.  Marie,  Mich. 


Rt.  Rev.  John  Vertin,  D.  D. 

Bishop  of  Marquette  and  Sault  Ste.  Marie, 
Mich. 

to  those  which  have  been  the  glory  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  every  age  and  country. 
By  the  inauguration  of  the  Catholic  uni- 
versity in  the  metropolis  of  America  their 
ardent  wishes  are  now  to  be  realized,  and  this  long- 
felt  want  supplied.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  over- 
rate the  importance  of  this  noble  and  glorious 
work,  stamped  as  it  is  with  the  seal  of  our  Holy 
Father,  Pope  Leo  the  thirteenth,  and  destined, 
under  the  blessing  of  God  and  his  vicar,  to  bring 
forth  fruits  of  inestimable  value  both  to  the  church 
and  country  of  America. 

May  the  young  men  of  America  be  impressed 
with  a laudable  ambition  of  profiting  by  the  ad- 
vantages now  offered  them;  may  they  be  led  gladly 
to  enter  a sanctuary,  from  which  the  light  of  true 
doctrine  will  radiate,  and  where  education  will  be 
the  handmaid  of  religion.  Your  lordship’s  devo- 
tion to  the  great  cause  of  religion  and  education 
has  led  to  your  being  selected  as  the  rector  to  pre- 
side over  and  shed  the  lustre  of  your  learning  on 
the  new  university.  Naturally  you  would  have 
shrunk  from  so  weighty  and  responsible  a task; 
but  in  this  you  have  cast  aside  your  own  wishes, 
and  cheerfully  obeyed  the  voice  of  him,  to  whom 
are  committed  the  keys  of  the  kingdom,  and  the 
oversight  of  Christ’s  flock.  In  a work  undertaken 


Rt.  Rev.  Fredric  X.  Katzer,  D.  D. 
Bishop  of  Green  Bay,  Wis. 


94 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


in  this  spirit,  your  lordship  has  every  reason  to  feel  that  the  hand  of 
God  is  with  you.  Allow  us  then  to  join  with  the  rest  of  the  Christian 
world  in  congratulating  you  on  this  memorable  day,  the  thirteenth  of 
November,  and  on  wishing^success  to  the  great  work  you  are  inaugurat- 
ing. It  is  our  earnest  and  heartfelt  prayer  that  God  may  bless  and 
prosper  this  work.  And  that  he  may  preserve  your  lordship  in  health 
and  strength  for  many  a year  to  encourage  and  guide  the  youth  of  the 
Catholic  university  of  Washington  in  the  paths  of  virtue  and  learning. 

With  kindest  regards  and  renewed  good  wishes,  believe  me,  my 
dear  lord,  your  obedient  and  faithful  servant, 

James  Lennon,  President. 

His  Lordship,  Bishop  Keane. 

Mgr.  Gadd  also  presented  the  following  letter  from  St.  Bede’s  Col- 
lege, Manchester,  England  : 

To  the  Right  Rev.  Joint  J.  Keane,  Bishop  of  lassies.  Rector  of  the 
Catholic  University,  Washington  : 

The  rector,  professors,  and  students  of  St.  Bede’s  College,  Man- 
chester, take  advantage  of  the  happy  circumstance  of  the  presence  of 
their  vice-rector  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Catholic  university  of 
America,  to  respectfully  present  to  your  lordship  their  sincere  con- 
gratulations upon  this  most  auspicious  event  in  the  history  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  of  North  America. 

The  erection  of  the  Catholic  university  is  the  glorious  crowning 
of  the  marvellous  record  of  progress  and  development  which  under  the 
blessing  of  divine  Providence  has  unrolled  itself  during  the  brief  course 
of  a century  in  the  great  republic  connected  by  the  triple  bond  of 
blood,  and  speech,  and  faith  with  the  Catholics  of  these  islands. 
Nothing  that  affects  the  welfare  of  the  church  in  the  United  States  can 
be  indifferent  to  the  church  in  this  land.  But  the  great  question  of 
Catholic  education,  the  most  vital  question  affecting  the  church  of  the 
present  day,  is  above  all  the  one  which  most  deeply  stirs  the  sympathy 
and  interest  of  all  those  who  are  in  any  way  practically  engaged  in  it. 
In  thus  completing  the  noble  edifice,  by  the  erection  of  the  supreme 
academical  institution  of  a great  national  alma  mater,  the  Catholics  of 
the  United  States  are  setting  example,  which  we  in  England  at  present 
may  only  admire  at  a distance,  but  which  we  may  fondly  hope  some 
day  to  imitate. 

A Catholic  college  like  ours,  which  is  entirely  devoted  to  the  work 
of  modern  and  commercial  education,  may  claim  a special  right  to 
watch  with  deep  and  sympathetic  interest  the  Catholic  educational 
work  of  a great  country,  so  eminent  amongst  the  nations  for  its  pro- 
gressive spirit,  the  vigor  of  its  energy  and  enterprise,  the  fertility  of 
its  inventive  resource,  and  above  all  for  that  frank  and  unreserved 
liberty,  under  which  the  church  is  left  free  to  expand  her  energies  and 
devote  the  fulness  of  her  strength  to  the  healing  and  helping  of  peoples. 

Thomas  Canon  Wrennall,  Rector;  Mgr.  Gadd,  Vice-Rector; 
Michael  A.  Sullivan,  Prefect  of  Studies;  Cornelius  W.  Pool,  Prefect  of 
Discipline;  L.  C.  Casartelli,  M.  A.,  Ph.  I).,  Librarian;  James  Moyes, 
Senior  Professor.  In  the  name  of  all  the  professors. 

Ramon  Mandiola  (Censor),  Santiago,  Chile;  Herbert  Sale,  Man- 
chester; Chas.  Burgoyne,  Liverpool;  Frank  Rooney,  London;  Arthur 
Cownick,  Dundalk;  Jos.  McAvoy,  Glasgow;  Edw.  4".  du  Vivier, 
New  York,  U.  S.  A. ; Frank  Gransaull,  Port  of  Spain,  Trinidad,  B.  W.  S. 
In  the  name  of  all  their  fellow-students. 

OPENING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 

At  five  o’clock  in  the  afternoon  the  exercises  inaugural  of  the 
university  course,  for  about  fifty  students  were  ready,  were  held  in  the 
main  hall.  The  choir  sang  Veni  Sancte  Spiritus,  the  students’ 
choir  Orcmus  pro  Pontifce  Nostro  Leone.  Cardinal  Gibbons 
offered  a brief  prayer  and  conferred  medals  from  the  pope  upon  Bryan 
Hanrahan,  the  contractor  for  the  brick  and  stone  work  of  the  build- 
ing; Mr.  E.  F.  Baldwin,  the  architect;  and  E.  Brady,  the  superintend- 
ent; and  Bishop  M.  J,  O’Farrell,  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  made  an  oration 
in  English,  and  Mgr.  Schroeder,  professor  of  dogmatic  theology  in 
the  university,  one  in  Latin. 

The  prelates  and  other  guests  then  proceeded  to  the  university 
hall  for  the  closing  exercises.  The  cardinals,  some  of  the  archbish- 
ops and  senior  bishops,  and  the  orator  of  the  day,  the  Rt.  Rev.  M.  J. 
O’Farrell,  of  Trenton,  N.  J.,  had  seats  on  the  platform. 

The  hall  itself  was  jammed,  as  was  also  the  neighboring  corridor. 
The  presidential  party,  with  the  exception  of  Secretary  Blaine,  left 
before  these  closing  exercises. 


Cardinal  Gibbons  made  a brief  prayer. 

Then  Bishop  O’Farrell,  taking  his  text  from  Joshua,  fourth 
chapter,  sixth  verse:  “ What  mean  ye  by  these  stones?”  and  after  a 
brief  but  happy  application  of  it  to  the  event  of  the  dav,  said: 

bishop  o’ farrell’s  oration. 

With  your  kind  permission  I will  try  to  show  that  religion  has 
been  necessary  to  the  development  of  science,  and  that  from  the  his- 
tory of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  past  we  can  easily  find  out  whether 
or  not  she  has  put  bounds  upon  knowledge. 

Knowledge  is  the  light  which  comes  down  from  the  throne  of  the 
Eternal.  All  knowledge  must  come  from  him.  He  is  knowledge  and 
truth  itself.  His  attributes  are  the  highest  of  human  studies.  Theol- 
ogy is  the  queen  of  knowledge..  All  knowledge  comes  from  God  and 
must  always  agree.  We  may  compare  it  in  a general  sense  to  the 
growth  of  a mighty  river,  which  takes  in  many  streams,  each  bringing 
its  weight  of  water.  Religious  knowledge  is  the  stream  which  comes 
to  fertilize  the  world.  Into  it  every  department  of  human  knowledge 
brings  its  portion.  Astronomy,  geology,  medicine,  and  other  branches 
of  learning  flow  for  a time  parallel,  but  if  guided  properly,  will  ultimately 
flow  together.  Religion  can  lay  down  principles  upon  which  human 
science  can  build  itself.  Knowledge  shows  that  God  is  the  foundation 
of  our  reason,  and  that  in  its  own  sphere  science  can  render  incal- 
culable service  to  mankind.  We  know  that  religion  is  necessary  even 
in  the  lowest  forms  of  human  life  to  direct  the  intellect.  The  mariner 
is  never  freer  to  sail  than  when  the  compass  is  under  his  hand. 

It  can  easily  be  proved  that  religion  is  of  the  greatest  utility  in 
every  branch  of  knowledge.  Has  the  Catholic  Church  any  interest 
in  opposing  human  knowledge  ? We  can  look  at  the  pages  of  history 
for  an  answer.  I would  ask,  after  the  stormy  days  of  the  church’s 
first  three  centuries  of  persecution  had  passed,  what  was  the  result? 
We  see  starting  up  as  if  by  magic,  men  with  great  intellects  and 
devoted  to  the  pursuit  of  learning.  In  all  the  ages  the  church  has 
produced  great  minds.  Human  genius  has  been  brought  forward  to 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  man.  When  the  three  centuries 
were  over  then  came  other  dark  days.  The  legions  of  the  north  came 
thundering  down  upon  Italy,  and  the  Greek  and  Roman  civilizations 
were  almost  dying.  The  church  could  not  then  spare  the  time  to 
develop  her  schools,  and  she  called  upon  a little  island  in  the  western 
ocean  ami  made  it  the  home  of  saints  and  scholars.  (Applause.)  In 
the  year  430  St.  Augustine  died,  and  in  431  St.  Patrick  went  to  Ire- 
land. But  it  is  not  for  Irishmen  to  boast  of  themselves.  Our  Ger- 
man brothers  are  willing  to  say  so  many  things  in  praise  of  us  that  we 
hardly  need  do  it  ourselves.  (Applause.)  In  the  sixth  and  seventh 
centuries  Ireland  sent  her  scholars  over  Europe. 

It  is  a singular  fact  that  in  the  land  where  the  Catholic  Church 
was  freest  religion  went  so  high,  and  science  and  knowledge  rose  high 
also.  There  is  not  an  old  monastery  in  Ireland  but  has  its  school 
attached  to  it.  Providence,  however,  soon  afterwards  made  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  energetic,  and  England  shared  with  Ireland  the 
honor  of  being  the  place  where  the  lamp  of  knowledge  was  always 
kept  lit.  Then  came  Charlemagne,  But  though  he  founded  the 
University  of  Paris,  when  he  heard  that  the  Danes  were  on  his  shore 
he  shed  tears.  During  the  several  centuries  of  barbarism  which  fol- 
lowed, the  pope  sent  out  missionaries  who  instructed  the  people  and 
taught  them  that  the  pen  is  equal  to  the  sword.  With  what  avidity 
were  studies  carried  on  at  that  time  ! There  were  30,000  students  at 
the  University  of  Oxford  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.  The  thirst  for 
knowledge  was  developed  by  the  care  of  the  Holy  See.  Then  came 
the  age  of  the  great  scholastics.  Never  did  men  try  to  go  deeper 
into  the  human  mind  than  they.  Need  I tell  you  of  the  wonderful 
discoveries  made  in  these  ages- — the  compass,  lenses,  and  spectacles, 
even,  which  came  from  the  monks?  The  first  work  ever  printed  was 
a Bible  by  the  Catholic  printers  of  Germany  and  Italy. 

One  of  the  most  precious  of  my  possessions  is  a Bible  printed  in 
1475,  seventeen  years  before  America ^vas  discovered,  and  let  me  tell 
you,  eight  years  before  Martin  Luther  was  born. 

Is  it  not  one  of  the  dearest  principles  to  us  from  childhood  that 
ignorance  is  often  the  mother  of  sin,  and  knowledge  the  child  of 
religion?  The  Leos  in  all  ages  have  been  friends  of  knowledge. 
Leo  XIII  (applause)  is  worthy  to  bear  the  name,  and  adheres  to  the 
Catholic  maxim,  that  science  and  religion  should  ever  go  together. 
There  can  be  no  conflict  between  science  and  religion.  Everything 
in  nature  is  of  God.  Sometimes  we  may  misinterpret  his  words. 
Theologians  may  do  so,  but  they  are  not  the  church — only  men,  liable 
to  mistake,  like  all  others. 

Brownson  (applause)  had  perhaps  the  most  independent  mind  of 
any  man  who  ever  trod  the  soil  of  this  country.  He  mistook  his 


r ^ 


Rt.  Rev.  Mgr.  D.  J.  O'Connell,  D.  D., 
Rector  American  College,  Rome. 


Rr.  Rev.  J.  J.  Conroy,  D.  D-, 
Resigned  See  of  Albany,  N.  Y. 


V.  Rev.  Edward  P.  Allen,  D.  D., 

President  Mount  St.  Mary's  College,  Emmittsburg,  Md. 


V.  Rev.  J.  A.  Stephan, 

Head  of  the  Catholic  Indian  Bureau, 
Washington,  D.  C. 


V.  Rzv.  Edw.  Sorin,  C.  S-  C., 
General  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  Notre  Dame,  Ind. 


96 


/ 


DEDICATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


premises  sometimes,  but  his  logic  was  always  faultless.  Did  the 
church  ever  come  out  to  stop  him,  even  when  he  did  go  astray?  I can 
say  with  Archbishop  Ryan  that  as  much  as  I love  the  church  I love 
knowledge  next.  Let  us  hope  that  these  stones  around  us  will  be  only 
the  corner  stone  of  a great  building  where  all  the  arts  and  sciences 
will  be  taught.  In  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  of  our  church 
in  America  we  can  give  no  better  proof  to  American  citizens  of  our 
love  of  knowledge  than  by  founding  this  temple  devoted  to  it,  just 
as  the  first  century  was  started  by  founding  a poor  temple  of  religion. 
(Great  applause.) 

DR.  SCHROEDER’S  ORATION. 

Eminentissimi  Principes, 

Illustrissimi  ac  Reverendissimi  Praesules, 

Auditores  Colendissimi,  Ornatissimi, 

Si  viros  summa  praeditos  elocjuentia,  cum  ad  dicendum  venissent, 
sive  loci  amplitudine,  sive  audientium  dignitate,  immo  etiam  unius 
principis  adspectu  ita  conturbatos  fuisse  accepimus,  ut  pro  magna 
sua  moderatione  atcpie  modestia  silentium  sibi  imperarent,  quo  tandem 
animo  ego  affectus  sim  oportet,  qui  turn  virium  mearum  tenuitatem 
ingeniique  mediocritatem  apprime  sentiam,  turn  in  ea  dicendi 
conditione  sim  constitutus,  ut,  quae  singula  oratorum  animos 
commovere  consueverint,  ea  mihi  sese  hodierno  die  offerant  atque 
obiiciant  universa?  Non  enim  in  unum  tantum  principem  oculorum 
aciem  converto,  sed  quotquot  sanctae  ecclesiae  pastores,  quotquot 
nobilissimae  huius  reipublicae  firmamenta,  quotquot  ornamenta  vir- 
tutum,  artium  scientiarumque  lumina  conspicio,  totidem  mihi 
consessum  principum  videor  intueri ! Accedit  quod  adstante  lectis- 
simorum  hominum  frequentia  dicendum  mihi  est  Washingtonii,  in  ea 
scilicet  urbe,  cuius  vel  ipsum  nomen  gratae  erga  patriae  patrein  tot 
illustrissimae  civitates,  amicissimo  inter  se  foedere  coniunctae, 
peculiari  quadam  observantia  prosequuntur ; in  sede  reipublicae  illius, 
quam  sapientissimis  legilnis  temperatam,  mira  civium  in  amplissima 
libertate  industria,  in  maxima  aemulatione  concordia  florentissimam, 
non  modo  ceterae  Americae  nationes,  sed  Europa  etiam,  totus  denique 
orbis  non  sine  quadam  invidia  admirabundi  suspiciunt  ! Nonne 
tandem  veterum  illud  : Ne  Iliada  post  Homerum  ! Ne  Olynthiam 
post  Demosthjenem  ! verissime  quis  mihi  dictum  putaverit,  quippe  qui 
verba  ad  vos  facere  ausim  post  oratores  omnibus  nominibus  praestan- 
tissimos  omnique  exceptione  maiores,  quorum  vox  auctoritatis  atque 
eloquentiae  plena  hisce  ipsis  diebus,  quid  dico?  immo  hoc  ipso  die, 
hac  ipsa  hora  vestrum  tantopere  haud  immerito  plausum  admira- 
tionemque  excitavit?  Quare  non  audaciae  tantum,  sed  temeritatis 
forem  arguendus,  _ si  coram  vobis,  eminentissimi,  reverendissimi, 
ornatissimi  auditores!  dicendi  munus  ullo  modo  appetivissem  et  si 
plura  pluribus  persequi  in  animo  esset.  Cum  vero  in  hunc  locum  non 
conscenderim  nisi  iis  impulsus  precibus,  quibus  reniti  nefas,  iam  ipsa 
haec  obsequentis  atque  obedientis  erga  insignem  rectorem  nostrum 
voluntatis  significatio  facile  efficiet,  ut  pauca  dicturus  nulla  apud 
vos  excu«atione  indigeam,  et  contra  eximia  vestra  benignitas 
atque  humanitas  meam  non  mediocriter  sublevet  ac  sustentet 
infirmitatem. 

Quid  prius  dicain  solitis  parentis 

Laudibus? 

Nam  profecto,  si  ullo  unquam  post  ereptos  Americae  populos  e 
paganitatis  tenebris  tempore  cognitum  atque  comprobatum  fuit,  quam 
paterna  Deus  O.  M.  nascentem  in  his  regionibus  ecclesiam  suam 
providentia  sit  amplexus  et  adhuc  amplectatur;  quanta  sit  sanctissiinae 
religioni  nostrae  ad  maxima  quaeque  suscipienda  susceptaque  per- 
ficienda,  indita  divinitus  vis  atque  virtus:  in  iis  certe,  quos  per  centum 
abhinc  annos  reportatos  celebravimus,  triumphis;  in  novo  hoc  inusi- 
tatoque,  quern  hodie  agimus,  ita  haec  omnia  patefacta  sunt,  ut  nunquam 
maioribus  et  illustrioribus  argumentis  aut  illustrata  esse  aut  in  pos- 
terum  illustrari  posse  videantur.  Quapropter  ante  omnia  gratias 
iterum  atque  iterum  persolvemus  praesenti  praepotentique  numini, 
(juo  non  aedificante  domum,  in  vanum  laborant  hominum  vel  ingen- 
iosissima  consilia,  “a  quo  omne  datum  bonum  et  omne  donum  per- 
fectum  mandatum  est  nobis  in  plenitudinem  catholicae  eius  et  apos- 
tolicae  ecclesiae.  ” 1 Nos  vero,  quotquot  licet  immeriti,  ad  optimos 
quosque  adolescentes  altioribus  disciplinis  informandos  hue  acciti 
sumus,  fide  sollemniter  coram  vobis,  patres  amplissimi,  data,  nostrum 
illud  perpetuo  verbum  facimus:  “Deus  lux  mea!”  2 altissimisque 
radicibus  in  mentibus  nostris  defixa  facem  nubis  in  inquirendo  atque 
docendo  nunquam  non  praeferet  magni  LeonisXIII  senientia:  “Con- 
atus  nostros  irritos  futuros,  nisi  communia  coepta  ille  secundet,  qui 
‘Deus  scientiarum’  in  divinis  eloquiis  appellatur! ’’  3 


1 Cf.  Patres  Cone.  Lat.  sub  Martino  I.  2In  aedificio  insculptum.  3En- 

cycl.  Artemi  Patris.  Cf.  Constitutiones  Catholicae  Universitatis  Americae, 

P-  42,  45- 


Iam  vero  divini  illius  ac  prorsus  ineffabilis  amoris,  quo  coelestis 
paterfamilias  oinnes  omnium  caritates  amplectitur  unus,  “mensuram 
bonain  et  confertam  et  coagitatam  et  supereffluentem’’’  1 dedit  insinum 
illius,  quern  ad  gubernandam  universam  familiam  suam  2 in  Petri  sede 
constituit  queinque  patrem  per  orbem  terrarum  sancta  colit  atque 
veneratur  ecclesia. 

Nemo  tarn  pater!  hocce  verissimo  eodemque  suavissimo  elogio 
inde  a primis  rerum  christianarum  exordiis  ad  nostra  usque  tempora 
grati  prosecuti  sunt  populi  Romanos  pontifices,  qui  per  urbem  et 
orbem,  per  oppida  et  vicos,  per  tempora  et  saecula  ad  instar  divini 
magistri  ‘ ‘pertransierunt  benefaciendo!  ” 3 

Nemo  tarn  pater  ! sic  in  mirabili  mundi  totius  concentu,  tot  tanto- 
rumque  memor  beneficiorum,  Petri  successores  devota  coinpellat 
America! 

Nemo  tarn  pater!  Sic  te,  Leo  maxime,  sollemni  hoc  faustissi- 
moque  die  nostra  haec  laetabunda  salutat  academia  ! 

Tu  enim,  teste  dilectissimo  cardinali  nostro,  splendidfssimo  illo 
ecclesiae  americanae  lumine,  tu  singulari  tua  sollicitudine  atque  pru- 
dentia  “rigasti,  quae  Pius  P.  VI  plantavit”!4 

Tu  tuae  erga  nos  voluntatis  ilium  nobis  misisti  interpretem,  quo 
meliorem,  doctiorem  atque  eloquentiorem  non  dico  invenire,  sed  ne 
exoptare  quideui  potuissemus  ! 5 

Liceat  mihi,  illustrissime  ac  reverendissime  summi  pastoris  legate, 
carissimorum  collegarum  meisque  verbis  hanc  abs  te  expetere  gra- 
tiam,  ut  amantissimo  patri  nostros  filialis  amoris  atque  obedientiae 
sensus  aperias,  quibus  imbuti,  nullo  neglecto  artium  et  scientiarum 
vero  progressu,  ex  divinis  humanisque  thesauris  “nova  proferentes  et 
vetera,’’  magni  Aquinatis  doctrinam  “illustrare,  tueri  etad  grassantium 
errorum  refutationem  adhibere  6 pro  viribus  conabimur.  Totius  vero 
nostrae  credendi,  agendi  docendique  rationis  veluti  tesseram  quandam 
Divi  Hieronymi  luculentissima  ilia  verba  supremo  iudici  exhibeas: 
“ Nos  nullum  primum  nisi  Christum  sequentes,  beatitudini  tuae,  i.  e. 
cathedrae  Petri  consociamur ! Super  illam  aedificatam  ecclesiam 
scimus ! Non  novimus  falsitatis  magistros,  pravas  opiniones  respui- 
mas,  ignoramus  novatores  ! Qui  tecum  non  colligit,  spargit.  Si  quis 
cathedrae  Petri  iungitur,  noster  est’’  ! 

Sicuti  vero,  ut  S.  Cypriani  verbis  utar,  “ Episcopatus  unus  est,  cuius 
a singulis  in  solidum  pars  tenetur, ” 8 ita  etiam  laus  tot  fidei  victoriis 
ac  triumphis  nostris  in  regionibus  adepta,  in  episcopos  redundat,  quos 
in  partem  sollicitudinis  a Romano  pontifice  vocatos  in  nobis  “Spiritus 
Sanctus  posuit  regere  Dei  ecclesiam.”  9 Quis  vero  in  Americae  historia 
tarn  est  peregrinus  atcpie  hospes,  qui  quanta  sint  praesulum,  quanta 
cleri  populique  catholici  universi  in  instituendo  hoc  lycaeo  merita, 
quot  in  perficiendo  tanto  opere  difficultates  fortiter  superaverint,  quot 
labores  invicto  animo  exantlaverint,  non  legerit  vel  audiverit  ? Quis 
est  tarn  remotus,  tain  inaccessus  toto  orbe  locus,  quo  munificentissi- 
mae  illius  vereque  regiae,  quam  pastores  egregii  verbo  et  exemplo  in 
civibus  non  semel  excitaverunt,  liberalitatis  fama  non  pervaserit? 

In  vos,  reverendissimi  praesules,  Sancti  Augustini,  apostolicos 
priscae  aetatis  viros  laudibus  exornantis  verba  lubentissime  transferam: 
“Isti  episcopi  sunt,  docti,  graves,  sancti,  veritatis  acerrimi  defensores, 
in  quorum  ratione,  eruditione,  libertate  non  potes  invenire  quod 
spernas.  Talibus  post  apostolos  sancta  ecclesia  plantatoribus,  riga- 
toribus,  aedificatoribus,  pastoribus,  nutritoribus  crevit,  qui  divinae 
familiae  dominica  cibaria  fideliter  ministrantesingenti  in  Domino  gloria 
claruerunt.”  1 0 

Salvete  igitur,  pastores  eximii  ! Salvete  americani  gregis  decora 
atque  ornamenta  ! Salvete  huius  academiae  firmamenta  et  praesidia  ! 
Vestram  festis  hisce  diebus  intuiti  frequentissimam  nobilissimamque 
coronam,  vestram  admirati  “communicationem  pacis  et  appellationem 
fraternitatisetcontesserationemhospitalitatis,”  1 1 non  potuimus  nostros 
cohibere  summae  laetitiae  sensus  ; non  potuimus  non  exclamare  cum 
regio  propheta:  “O  quam  bonum  et  quam  iucundum  habitare  tales 
fratres  in  unum  ! ’ ’ 

Vos  igitur  cum  Petri  sede  arctissimo  vinculo  coniunctos  duces 
sequennir  ac  magistros;  vestra  nostra  est  laus,  vester  noster  est  honor. 
Patrum  secuti  exemplum  “intellectus  secundum  quern  sentimus”1 2 tan- 
quam  arrabonem  et  pignus  vobis  esse  volumus  immotam  illam  “ fidei  et 
sanitatis  regulam:  ” 1 3 “ Communicamus  cum  successoribus  aposto- 
lorum,  communicamus  cum  episcopis  nostris,  quod  nulli  doctrina 
diversa:  hoc  est  testimonium  veritatis  !”  14 

Quid  tandem  quod  non  catholicos  tantum,  sed  omnes  harum 
civitatum  cives,  quod  universam  hanc  potentissimam  rempublicam 


'Luc.  vi,  38.  2Cf.  S.  Ignat.  M.  ad  Ephes.  3Act.  x,  38.  4 Emus  Card. 

Gibbons  in  litteris  pastoralibus.  5sc.  Rmum  archiep.  Satolli.  ®Encycl. 
Aeterni  Patris.  7Cf.  ep.  15.  et  16.  ad  Damas.  *De  Vnitate  Ecclesiae.  9Cf. 
Act,  xx,  28.  10Cf.  Aug.  cont.  Iul.  II  n.  37.  "Tertull.  Praescript,  c.  20,  21. 

12S.  Athanas.  or.  i cont.  Arian.  n.  34.  13S.  August,  in  Ioann,  tract.  18  n.  1. 

14Cf.  Tertull.  Praescript.  1.  c. 


DEDICA  TION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


97 


uberrimos  ex  hisce  ecclesiae  catholicae  triumphis  fructus  essepercep- 
turos,  meo  mihi  iure  dicere  posse  videor  ? Immortale  enim  Dei 
miserentis  opus,  quod  est  ecclesia,  eaque  quae  ex  materno  ipsius  sinu 
efflorescunt  instituta,  quamquam  per  se  et  natura  suasalutem  spectant 
animorum  adipiscendamque  in  coelis  felicitatem,  tamen  in  ipso  etiam 
rerum  mortalium  genere  tot  ac  tantas  ultro  pariunt  utilitates,  utplures 
maioresve  non  possent,  si  in  primis  et  maxime  essent  ad  tuendam 
huius  vitae,  quae  in  terris  agitur,  prosperitatem  destinata. 1 Quid  vero 
hac  in  re  verbis  opus  est  cum  facta  quodammodo  loqui  videantur? 
Nonne  hanc  ipsam  ob  causam  summi  illi  viri,  qui  ad  reipublicae  nos- 
trae  sedent  gubernacula,  hodiernum  nostrum  consessum  exoptatissima 
sua  praesentia  cohonestarunt  atque  exornarunt?  Nonne  id  ipsum 
persuasum  est  innumeris  illiscivibus  nostris,  qui,  licet  aliter  de  rebus 
divinis  sentiant,  insignis  tamen  suae  erga  nos  benevolentiae  et  exis- 
timationis  baud  ambigua  signa  turn  antea  praestiterunt  turn  hoc 
quoque  die  praestare  non  dubitant  ? 

Augeatur  igitur  et  crescat  in  hisce  plagis,  coelestibus  benedic- 
tionibus  quoquoversus  repletis,  sanctae  religionis  amor  et  reverentia  ! 

Vivat  et  floreat,  Dei  O.  M.  auxilio  innixa,  deiparae  immaculatae, 
S.  Joseph,  Divi  Pauli,  S.  Thomae  coelitumque  omnium  patrocinio 
fulta,  academia  haec  nostra,  tain  felicibus  hodie  auspiciis  coepta  ! 

Adolescant  in  ea  et  ad  gravissimas  quasque  disciplinas  exer- 
ceantur  iuvenes  ingenui,  ut  ad  sacra  praelia  valentes  quam  qui  maxime 
existant ! 

Clarius  in  dies  clariusque  generosissimis  Americae  populis  orbique 
universo  innotescat,  quam  vera  sit,  quam  aperta,  quam  sincera  senten- 
tia,  aedium  harum  fronti  marmoreis,  cordibus  vero  nostris  flammeis 
iisque  nunquam  interituris  litteris  inscripta  : “ Deo  et  patriae  ! ” 

ixi. 

Convenientque  tuas  avidi  componere  laudes 

Undique,  quique  canunt  vinctopede,  quique  soluto. 

—Tib. 

Oh!  mihi  quae  rerum  spectacula  laeta  novarum 
Nunc  sese  obiiciunt!  quae  nos  delectat  imago 
Et  mira  attonitum  replet  dulcedine  pectus! 

Scilicet  e vastis  nostri  confinibus  orbis 
Concilium,  sanctique  patres,  sinml  agmine  facto, 

Et  clari  coiere  viri,  quos  inclita  virtus 
Divitiisque  suis  sapientia  diva  magistros 
Efficit,  et  partum  sustollit  ad  aethera  nomen. 

Plaude,  America,  bonis  summo  quam  spectat  ab  axe 
Luminibus,  laetisque  Dens  confirmat  et  auget 
Auspiciis;  mecumque,  viri,  vos  plaudite  iunctis 
Laetitiis,  meliusque  sacris  conndite  rebus. 

Lux  iam  centenis  convertitur  orbibus  anni, 

Elapsoque  dies  fortunatissima  saeclo 
Iam  redit,  in  nostris  viguit  quo  condita  terris 
Relligio  et  pietas,  pastoribus  undique  sacris 
Legitimo  proprias  habitantibus  ordine  sedes, 

Atque  potestatis,  Petri  quae  manat  ab  urbe, 

Per  certos  demum  sancito  iure  ministros. 

Quis  fando  memoret  manibus  quot  munera  plenis, 

Quot  benefacta  Deus,  tot  iam  volventibus  annis, 

Contulerit  nobis?  quam  laetos  usque  triumphos. 

Quot  palmas,  coelo  victoria  lapsa  sereno, 

Foedere  perpetuo  nostris  effuderit  oris? 

Quam  multis  lux  affulsit  divinitus  hausta! 

Quam  late  Christi  nomen  cultusque  per  urbes 
Montesque  et  silvas,  ac  per  deserta  ferarum 
Emicuit,  pressasque  din  caligine  gentes 
Eripuit  tenebris  Christique  adiunxit  ovili! 

Pax  et  arnica  quies  nostris  dominatin'  in  agris. 

Aurea  libertas  quam  lex  tamen  aequa  coercet 
Et  regit  imperio:  foeciinda  copia  cornu 
Divitias  sine  fine  parat;  prudentia  rerum 
Exirnia  hos  populos  cunctis  regionibus  aequat. 

Impietas  petulans  magis  usque  magisque  fatiscit, 

Errorum  fera  turba  fugit;  fugere  phalanges 
Tartareae,  et  stygii  franguntur  sceptra  tyranni. 

Dum  quassat  ventis  insignia  sacra  secundis 
Relligio,  subigitcpie  animos  victricibus  armis. 

At  nunc  ecce  novum,  revoluto  sidere,  saeclum 
Incipit,  augurio  natum  meliore,  novoque 
Ordine,  qui  rebus  ferat  incrementa  futuris 
Et  libertatis  sanctae  faustissima  dona 
Provehat  in  melius;  Christi  sacra  iura  propaget, 

Clarius  et  veri  collustret  lumine  mentes. 

Omine  propitio  superisque  iuvantibus,  alma 
Consurgit  sedes,  studiisque  volentibus  ardet 
Tutari  sacras  coniunctis  viribus  artes, 

Iustitiam  legesque  pias,  exemplaque  vitae 
Quae  gentes  reddant  terraque  poloque  beatas, 

Et  quidquid  ratio,  quidquicl  pia  dogmata  tradunt 
Christicolum  sanas  docuisse  fideliter  aures. 


!Cf.  Leoni  PP.  XIII  eneycl.,  de  civitatum  constitutione  Christiana. 


Sic  deus  aspiret  coeptis,  et  virgo  secundet 
Consilium,  ut  mulcet  spes  iucundissima  pectus 
Affore  mox  tempus,  plenam  sapientia  lucem 
Cum  terris  America  tuis  pelagoque  refundet, 

Et  Christi  imperium  cunctis  dominabitur  oris. 

Hoc  omnes  cupimus:  vult  hoc  Leo  maximus,  afflat 
Qui  primus  tantos  generosa  in  pectora  sensus; 

Et  quamquam  pressus  bello  vinctusque  catems, 

Proh!  scelus  et  probrum!  tamen  omnia  circumspectat 
Iinpiger,  et  populos  toto  procul  orbe  remotos 
Sublevat  auxilio,  cunctasque  informat  ad  artes 

Salve,  magne  pater!  duce  te,  teque  auspice  surgat 
Hoc  opus,  et  fructus  in  longum  proferat  aevum! 

Et  quae  consilio,  virtute,  et  fortibus  ausis 
Iamdudum  floret,  doctrinae  floreat  haustu 
Relligione  potens  pietate  America  refulgens 
Et  servet  magni  nomen  per  saecla  Leonis. 

Among  those  present  during  the  day  besides  the  prelates  were 
Joseph  Banigan,  Major  W.  C.  Barney,  Col.  J.  G.  Barrett,  Hon.  \\  . 
I).  Byman,  Hon.  H.  H.  Bingham,  ex-Gov.  John  Lee  Carroll,  Mr. 
Yaras,  the  Chilian  minister,  Count  d’Arschot,  the  Belgian  minister, 
Senator  J.  N.  Dolph,  Hon.  C.  N.  Grosvenor,  Rev.  T.  Hodgson,  Dis- 
trict Commissioner  L.  G.  Hine,  Charles  E.  Hooker,  J.  W.  Jenkins, 
George  C.  Jenkins,  of  Baltimore,  Eugene  Kelly,  of  New  York,  Thomas 
E.  Waggaman,  Captain  R.  Meade,  U.  S.  N. , Prof.  Paul  Haupt,  of  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  M.  F.  Morris,  Henry  Montgomery,  Hon. 
Louis  E.  McComas,  Thomas  McSheedy,  Mr.  Guzmer,  Hon.  J.  H. 
Onthwaite,  John  O’Brien,  Hon.  P.  S.  Post,  Mr.  Preston,  the  Haytian 
minister;  Rev.  W.  W.  Patton,  of  Howard  University,  Hon.  Harry 
Welles  Rusk,  Senator  J.  H.  Reagan,  General  Rosecrans,  United  States 
army;  Judge  Richardson,  William  H.  Scott,  of  the  Ohio  University; 
John  T.  Sinnett,  Don  de  Muruaga,  the  Spanish  minister;  Mr.  and  Miss 
Drexel,  of  Philadelphia;  Senator  John  Sherman,  Hon.  A.  Leo  Knott, 
Miss  de  Meaux,  Senator  Kernan,  Miss  Riggs,  Michael  Jenkins,  Mrs. 
Hoguet,  A.  R.  Spofford,  General  Truisdell,  Mr.  Manning,  P.  D. 
Zeleden,  of  Costa  Rica;  Charles  E.  Hooker,  Miss  Emily  V.  Mason, 
Abbe  Wachelet,  of  the  French  frigate  Arethuse,  Vicomte  de  Meaux, 
Mrs.  Mifflin,  John  Boyle  O’Reilly  and  Miss  Conway,  of  Boston;  Major 
Brues,  Miss  Dana,  J.  H.  Regan,  Mrs.  Montgomery,  Joseph  Borizan, 
Miss  Mason,  Hon.  Honord  Mercier,  Mrs.  Morrell,  Col.  Berrett,  Mr. 
Murphy,  president  of  Carroll  Institute;  General  Yincent,  of  the  United 
States  army;  D.  J.  Foley,  Col.  F.  W.  Kerschner,  P.  J.  Campbell,  John 
Murphy,  James  R.  Wheeler,  Robert  A.  Jamison,  Major  John  I).  Keiley, 
W.  J.  Onahan  and  J.  M.  Duffy  of  Chicago,  C.  K.  Lord,  Henry  Spaun- 
horst,  of  St.  Louis,  Joseph  Itnbo,  Lewis  Fusz,  Peter  L.  Foy,  F.  A. 
Drew,  Amddde  Reyburn,  Rev.  Henry  Meuhl,  Conde  P>.  Pallen,  of  St. 
Louis;  Patrick  McEnnis,  of  Dallas,  Tex.;  John  C.  McGuire,  Bernard 
J.  York,  Thomas  H.  York,  James  H.  Breen  and  Daniel  Bradley,  of 
Brooklyn;  Jas.  Fullerton,  of  Washington;  Daniel  Dougherty,  of  New 
York;  District  Commissioner  Douglas  B.  Washington,  John  Kyne,  of 
Washington,  and  Count  Arco. 

Conspicuous  among  the  large  number  of  the  reverend  clergy  in 
attendance  were  thirty-nine  fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  including 
the  provincials  of  the  order,  superiors  of  missions,  and  the  head  of 
nearly  every  institution  conducted  by  the  Jesuits  in  the  United  States,  as 
follows  : 

Y.  Rev.  Jas.  A.  Campbell,  provincial  of  New  York  and  Maryland; 
J.  P.  Frieden,  provincial  of  Missouri;  Jos.  Sasia,  superior  general  of 
California  mission;  J.  O’Shanahan,  superior  general  of  New  Orleans 
mission;  II.  Behrens,  superior  general  of  Buffalo  mission;  Rev. 
David  A.  Merrick,  N.  F.  McKinnon,  R.  Holaind,  and  Thomas 
Hughes,  from  St.  Francis  Xavier  College,  New  York  city;  John 
Scully,  from  Fordham  College;  J.  H.  Richards  and  J.  J.  Murphy, 
from  Georgetown  College;  F.  Smith  and  Fr.  Ryan,  from  Loyola  Col- 
lege, Baltimore;  P.  Cassidy  and  D.  Lynch,  from  St.  Peter’s  College, 
Jersey  City;  W.  F.  Clarke  and  E.  Boone,  from  Gonzaga  College, 
Washington;  P.  Brennan,  from  Providence,  R.  I.;  C.  Lancaster,  from 
Leonardtown;  B.  Villiger,  from  Philadelphia;  J.  Morgan,  from  Mary- 
land; A.  Schapman,  from  St.  Xavier  College,  Cincinnati;  E.  J.  Glee- 
son,  from  St.  Louis  University;  M.  P.  Dowling,  from  Detroit  College: 


98 


DEDICA  TION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY. 


E.  A.  Higgins,  F.  X.  Schulak,  and  W.  H.  Hill,  from  St.  Ignatius’  Col- 
lege, Chicago;  H.  J.  Votel,  from  St.  Mary’s  College,  Kansas;  J. 
O’Connor  and  Wolff,  from  College  of  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
New  Orleans;  J.  Lonergan,  from  Spring  Hill  College,  Alabama;  P. 
Racicot.S.  Brandi,  A.  Sabetti,  M.  O’Brien,  Jas.  Smith,  and  J.  Hedrick, 
from  Woodstock  College;  L.  Van  Gorp,  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
missions;  Fr.  Pirrick,  of  the  Dakota  missions. 

The  ushers,  under  direction  of  Mr.  D.  I.  Murphy,  were:  Messrs.  De 
Lacey, Sohon,  Blanchard,  Carroll,  O’Connor,  Lancaster,  Mulvey,  Soule, 
Redmond,  Coyle,  Leonard,  O’Neal,  Dunn,  Merritt,  White,  Walsh, 
Harmon,  Colbert,  McComb,  McLedley,  Ivin,  Jacques,  A.  J.  Smith, 
Shea,  Donnelly,  Wilson,  Matlett,  Healey,  Lepley,  Crowltin,  Snell,  Dr. 
Benson,  Sullivan,  Taylor,  Byrne,  Elliott,  Woodward,  Madigan,  Sohon, 
Sherman,  Krane,  Malone,  Freitek,  Byrne,  Donnelly,  Britten,  McGuire, 
Bird,  Caughlan,  Wight,  Simms,  Dunn,  Dolan,  Halloran,  Devine, 
Fealey,  Shoemaker,  Morgan,  Leonard,  Shea,  O’Brien,  and  Kennedy. 


To  the  visitors  who  remained  in  Washington  was  given  an  informal 
reception  at  night  by  the  members  of  Carroll  Institute.  The  Recep- 
tion Committee  were  Messrs.  Mallet,  O’ Farrell,  Lancaster,  Lepley,  and 
Sullivan. 

THE  ASSOCIATED  PRESS. 

At  Washington,  as  at  Baltimore,  the  Associated  Press  reports 
were  in  charge  of  a Catholic  reporter,  Mr.  J.  P.  Boughan,  who  was  brought 
from  Chicago  for  the  purpose  by  personal  order  of  Wm.  H.  Smith, 
the  manager.  From  information  obtained  from  him,  it  would  appear 
that  if  at  times  injustice  seems  to  have  been  done  Catholics  in  the 
reports  of  the  Associated  Press  agency,  this  is  due  mainly  to  the  preju- 
dice of  local  agents,  and  is  against  the  general  orders  issued  to  all. 
Where  this  occurs,  the  attention  of  the  manager  should  be  called  to 
the  injustice. 


The  Baltimore  Festivities 


Probably  one  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  the  celebration 
was  the  hospitality  shown  on  all  sides  to  the  visiting  prelates  and  mem- 
bers of  the  congress.  This  included  a dinner  at  St.  Mary’s  Semi- 
nary Sunday  afternoon,  a reception  by  Cardinal  Gibbons  at  the 
Concordia  Opera  House  Monday  night,  a reception  by  Mayor 
Latrobe  and  Cardinal  Gibbons  at  the  city  hall  on  Thursday,  known 
as  Baltimore  day,  as  the  visitors  were  escorted  through  the  city  and 
to  a number  of  institutions,  and  several  dinner  parties  at  private  res- 
idences or  hotels. 

DINNER  AT  ST.  MARY’S  SEMINARY. 

After  the  Mass  at  the  cathedral  on  Sunday  the  prelates  were  es- 
corted to  St.  Mary’s  Seminary  on  north  Paca  street,  an  institution 
that  has  given  a number  of  archbishops,  bishops,  and  priests  to  the 
church,  and  there  they  were  entertained  at  the  centennial  dinner. 
Those  present  occupied  seats  at  three  long  tables  extending  length- 
wise in  the  large  hall.  Cardinal  Gibbons  presided  at  the  easterly  table, 
having  on  his  right  Cardinal  Taschereau,  on  his  left  Archbishop  Satolli, 
and  the  Very  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Magnien,  president  of  the  seminary,  oppo- 
site him.  To  the  right  of  Cardinal  Taschereau  were  Archbishops 
Feehan,  of  Chicago,  and  Fabre,  of  Montreal,  and  to  the  left  of  Arch- 
bishop Satolli  were  Archbishops  Elder,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Duhamel,  of 
Ottawa.  While  the  prelates  were  in  the  main  hall  many  of  the  priests 
dined  in  an  adjoining  apartment.  By  request  of  Cardinal  Gibbons, 
Cardinal  Taschereau  said  grace,  and  after  the  reading  of  a selection 
from  sacred  Scripture  by  Mr.  Thomas  S.  Stanton,  the  major  reader 
of  the  institution,  an  elaborate  menu  was  served  by  caterer  George 
C.  Bowen.  Toasts  proposed  by  Cardinal  Gibbons  were  as  follows: 
“The  Roman  Pontiff,”  responded  to  by  Archbishop  Satolli  in  Latin; 
“Canada,”  responded  to  by  Ca.-dinal  Taschereau;  “Mexico,” 
responded  to  by  Bishops  Gillo  and  d’Oca,  “Ireland,”  responded  to 
by  Archbishop  Cleary,  of  Kingston,  Can.;  “America,”  by  Archbishop 
Ireland,  of  St.  Paul.  Archbishop  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  read  a com- 
munication from  Archbishop  Walsh,  of  Dublin,  regretting  his  absence, 
Mgr.  Gadd,  greetings  from  Cardinal  Manning,  Archbishop  Vaughan, 
and  English  institutions  of  learning.  Bishop  Virtue,  of  England, 
spoke  briefly,  and  the  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  O’Connell,  rector  of  the  American 
College  at  Rome,  read  greetings  from  the  clergy  of  Ireland  and  the 
following  cablegram,  dated  November  9,  from  the  Pope.  It  was  as 
follo\Vs: 

The  Most  Eminent  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore, 
United  States  of  America: 

Solemnitas  qua  saecularis  erectionis  episcopatus  Americani  me- 
moria  celebrata  estmagnae  nobis  jucunditati  fuit.  Dum  fausta  quaeque 
Americanae  ecclesiae  ominamur  petitam  benedictionem  peramanter 
impertimur.  Leo  PP.  XIII. 

Translated  it  is:  “The  solemn  celebration  of  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  establishment  of  the  American  hierarchy  has 
given  us  cause  for  great  joy.  While  we  wish  every  prosperity  for  the 
American  church,  we  most  cheerfully  grant  it  our  apostolic  benedic- 
tion.” 

Archbishop  Satolli,  the  papal  representative,  in  responding  to  the 
toast  to  the  Pontiff,  said  in  Latin: 


I should  speak  in  English,  but  I am  not  sufficiently  well  acquainted 
with  that  language.  There  are  no  reasons  wanting  why  the  Latin  tongue, 
in  which  I will  speak,  is  not  more  appropriate  on  the  present  occasion. 
First,  because  it  is  universal,  and  secondly,  because  it  is  the  language 
of  ancient  Rome,  whose  institutions  American  people  have  not 
only  imitated,  but  even  emulated. 

In  the  very  solemn  celebration  in  the  church  to-day  it  seemed 
to  me  even  as  though  I were  in  Rome  because  of  the  surroundings. 
The  only  thing  wanting  was  the  presence  of  the  supreme  pontiff,  but 
I can  assure  you  of  his  presence  here  in  spirit.  The  present  pontiff 
the  moment  of  his  election  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  great  American 
nation,  and  he  was  greatly  pleased  by  the  religious  progress.  He  saw 
that  the  special  designs  of  Providence  hung  over  this  nation,  and  he 
was  fully  persuaded  of  the  great  progress  which  Catholicism  will  still 
make  even  under  his  own  pontificate.  This  church,  therefore,  be- 
came the  subject  of  his  especial  predilection  and  solicitude,  and  he 
seized  every  occasion  to  display  his  love  and  especial  affection  for  it. 

In  this  respect  the  bishops  and  all  other  Catholics  who  have  ever 
visited  Rome  have  had  evident  proofs. 

The  Holy  Father  aimed  at  having  the  great  national  council  of 
Baltimore,  and  under  his  protection  and  apostolic  approbation  it  suc- 
ceeded not  only  as  splendidly  as  the  others,  but  even  surpassed 
them.  Another  proof  of  his  good  will  he  gave  the  moment  he  heard 
of  the  bishops  founding  the  Catholic  university,  and  not  only  did  he 
encourage  this,  but  even  gave  his  apostolic  sanction  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  university  by  a special  brief.  Finally,  in  this  very  year 
he  gave  proof  of  his  care  by  taking  part  in  this  centennial  feast  of 
the  Catholic  hierarchy  by  sending  a papal  representative. 

The  speaker  then  continued,  and  said:  “Although  the  Holy  Father 
finds  himself  at  the  present  time  in  the  midst  of  bitter  tribulations,  he 
nevertheless  finds  great  relief  in  the  American  church.  He  doubts 
not  that  the  Catholics  of  America  will  not  be  wanting  in  the  display 
of  their  generosity  and  filial  devotion  because  of  that  same  spirit  of 
liberty  they  enjoy  in  their  own  country;  that  they  will  labor  to  that 
end,  that  the  pope  may  once  more  acquire  that  independence  and 
liberty  which  by  divine  institution  appertain  to  him  as  sovereign  head 
of  all  the  church  and  representative  of  the  person  and  authority  of 
Christ,  and  under  which  liberty  and  independence  the  power  of  the 
free  constitutions  of  the  states  are  founded,  are  maintained  prosper- 
ous, and  their  existence  secured.  Under  more  favorable  circumstances 
Leo  XIII,  or  whoever  his  successor  may  be,  will  find  pleasure  some 
day  in  visiting  in  person  the  great  American  nation  and  gladdening 
it  with  his  presence  and  purifying  us  with  new  benedictions.” 

Cardinal  Gibbons  in  announcing  the  other  toasts  spoke  with 
approval  of  the  sentiments  of  the  apostolic  delegate,  and  reviewed  the 
causes  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  church  in  America.  One,  he  thought, 
was  the  indomitable  energy  of  the  early  missionaries  who  labored  in 
the  United  States,  and  another  the  unity  and  spirit  of  love  and  brother- 
hood which  united  the  American  episcopate.  Still  another  was  the 
emigration  from  Ireland  and  Germany,  which  two  countries,  the  cardinal 
declared  he  could  say  without  disparagement,  had  done  more  to  help 
the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  than  any  others.  He  alluded 
to  the  presence  of  representatives  of  Canada,  Mexico,  and  England, 
and  said  that  whether  or  not  political  union  with  the  two  first-named 
countries  might  be  thought  desirable,  America  stretched  out  her 
arms  to  the  two  peoples  and  bound  them  to  her  heart. 

Cardinal  Taschereau,  briefly  responding  for  Canada,  said,  “Cana- 
dians have  the  same  faith,  hope,  and  charity  as  their  neighbors  in  the 
states.  All  you  here  present  may  be  sure  that  you  will  be  received  as 
brothers  by  the  Canadians.” 


IOO 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES . 


Bishop  Gillo  said  that  “The  old  and  now  unfortunate  church  in 
Mexico  sends  congratulations  to  the  young  and  powerful  church  in 
the  United  States,”  and  Bishop  d’Oca  said,  “ Numbers  increase  and 
decrease,  colleges  and  universities  fall  as  quickly  as  they  have  risen, 
but  it  is  union  which  brings  strength,  and  obedience  which  works 
miracles.  May  you  run  from  victory  to  victory  and  celebrate  your 
second  centennial  with  a body  of  prelates  three  times  as  numerous  as 
you  have,  to-day.”  Responses  to  the  other  toasts  were  brief. 

The  greetings  brought  by  Mgr.  Gadd  are  as  follows  : 

To  His  Eminence  the  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  and  to 
the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  the  United  States  of  America — Mf 
Lord  Cardinal:  The  brotherly  invitation  of  Your  Eminence,  and  of 
the  bishops  of  the  United  States,  bidding  us,  the  bishops  of  England, 
to  share  in  the  joy  of  the  centenary  of  your  great  episcopate,  demands 
from  us  more  than  a formal  acknowledgment.  In  the  name,  therefore, 
of  my  colleagues,  and  in  my  own,  I return  to  you  our  thanks  and  our 
fraternal  affection. 

If  by  reason  of  old  age  or  infirmities,  or  of  work  or  inevitable 
duties,  we  are  unable  to  be  present  or  to  share  your  thanksgiving,  our 
hearts  will  be  with  you  in  the  unity  of  the  spirit  and  of  the 
imperishable  faith. 

To  you  it  is  given  first  to  celebrate  the  hundredth  year  of  your 
pastoral  care  in  the  new  world  of  the  English-speaking  race.  When 
the  fragments  of  the  old  world  fell  away  from  the  Catholic  unity  a new 
world  was  ascending  above  the  horizon.  The  new  world  now 
reigns  in  west  and  east  and  south  by  a world-wide  sway  of  140 
sees.  In  ten  years  the  church  in  England  will  keep  its  jubilee. 
St.  Augustine  of  Canterbury  in  his  restored  jurisdiction  rejoices  with 
you  to-day.  St.  Patrick  of  Ireland  has  so  large  a share  in  your  cente- 
nary that  he  may  claim  it  as  the  fifteenth  of  his  unbroken  line.  In  the 
greatest  commonwealth,  and  in  the  greatest  empire  in  the  world,  the 
church,  Catholic  and  Roman,  deeply  rooted  and  daily  expanding, 
calls  the  freest  races  of  mankind  to  the  liberty  of  faith,  the  only  true 
liberty  of  man.  As  in  the  beginning,  so  now  our  divine  Master  walks 
among  the  people,  and  they  know  his  voice,  for  he  has  compassion 
on  the  multitude,  and  they  follow  him.  Pray  for  us,  venerable 
fathers,  as  we  also  pray  for  you,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  may  send  down 
upon  us  all,  pastors  and  flock,  the  early  and  the  latter  rain,  and  may 
fill  us  with  the  love  of  God  and  man. 

I am  always,  my  lord  cardinal,  Your  Eminence’s  humble  and 
devoted  servant, 

Henry  Edward, 

Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Westminster. 

Westminster,  Octave  of  St.  Edward,  1889. 

St.  Cuthbert’s  College,  Ushaw,  Oct.  9,  1889. 

To  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Archbishop  of  Baltimore — 
Eminence:  We,  the  northern  bishops  of  the  province  of  West- 
minster, in  England,  assembled  at  St.  Cuthbert’s  College,  Ushaw,  in 
our  usual  annual  meeting,  desire  to  express  to  Your  Eminence  and  to 
your  colleagues  in  the  American  hierarchy  our  most  friendly  greetings 
and  our  hearty  congratulations  upon  the  approaching  centenary  of  the 
American  church  and  upon  the  inauguration  of  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity of  America,  which  will  so  fitly  mark  the  celebration  of  that 
century. 

We  look  with  admiration  and  joy  upon  the  extraordinary  growth 
of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States;  we  feel  a personal 
interest  in  the  spread  of  the  faith  among  millions  with  whom  we  are 
connected  either  by  language  and  racial  affinities  or  by  traditional 
friendship;  we  can  never  forget  that  it  was  through  an  English 
Catholic  bishop  that  you  received  succession  in  the  episcopate  and 
that  the  church  of  the  United  States  of  America  is  thus  in  a special 
way  related  to  our  own.  We  receive  encouragement  and  strength 
from  a knowledge  of  your  success  in  maintaining  and  propagating  the 
faith  (without  which  it  is  impossible  to  please  God)  in  your  new  and 
vigorous  republic,  and  we  watch  with  keen  attention  your  efforts  to 
solve  the  various  difficult  problems  sprung  from  the  novel  conditions 
of  modern  society — problems  with  which  we  are  also  called  upon  to 
deal.  But  above  all  we  are  impressed  by  your  zeal  for  a higher  educa- 
tion. We  have  heard  with  singular  interest  of  the  determination  of 
the  American  hierarchy  to  crown  their  system  of  Catholic  schools 
and  colleges  by  the  erection  of  a Catholic  university.  Living  as  we 
do  in  the  midst  of  a world  which  is  agitated  by  intellectual  strife,  we 
feel  the  extreme  importance  for  Catholics  of  a course  of  such  higher 
studies  as  are  proper  to  a university,  while  at  the  same  time  we  are 
profoundly  convinced  that  a Catholic  spirit  and  a Catholic  atmos- 


phere are  as  essential  for  the  training  and  formation  of  Catholic  youth 
during  the  university  period  of  their  education  as  excellence  in  method 
and  brilliance  in  teaching  power. 

You  have  been  unwilling  to  compromise  the  future  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church  in  America  by  attaching  your  Catholic  youth  to  any  of 
your  great  national  seats  of  learning,  because  you  knew  that  these,  not 
being  frankly  Catholic,  would  never  be  places  of  education  for  Catholic 
youth.  You  have  not  hestitated,  therefore,  during  the  infancy  of 
your  church  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a purely  Catholic  university 
which  shall  develop  and  expand  with  your  growth  during  centuries  to 
come. 

We  congratulate  you  upon  the  lofty  ideal,  the  public  spirit,  the  splen- 
did generosity  which  you  have  found  in  your  Catholic  people,  and  upon 
the  wisdom  which  has  induced  you,  with  the  consent  and  cooperation 
of  all.  to  begin  by  founding  that  portion  of  a university  curriculum 
which  is  made  up  of  the  various  branches  of  sacred  science.  For 
while  religion  must  always  be  the  foundation  of  a university  educa- 
tion, there  seems  to  be  a special  reason  why  higher  education  in  your 
university  should  begin  with  the  clergy.  The  priesthood  is-  designed 
by  God  to  be  the  salt  of  the  earth  and  the  guardian  of  truth.  It 
would,  therefore,  appear  to  be  a matter  of  the  highest  prudence  and 
forethought,  in  considering  the  common  weal,  to  make  special  and 
early. provision  for  the  education  of  a succession  of  highly  trained 
ecclesiastics  whose  lives  may  become  consecrated  to  learning  and  to 
the  elucidation  of  truth.  They,  as  a class,  will  become  the  most  use- 
ful servants  of  the  republic,  because  they  will,  as  skilled  and  well 
trained  men  of  science,  deal  with  those  errors  which  are  ever  attack- 
ing the  fundamental  truths  of  philosophy  and  revelation,  and  endeav- 
oring to  turn  the  world  back  to  that  worship  of  nature  which  Christ  our 
Lord,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  came  to  destroy  and  to  supplant. 

We,  therefore,  congratulate  Your  Eminence  and  our  brethren  of 
the  great  American  hierarchy  upon  the  celebration  of  the  centenary 
of  the  church  of  the  United  States,  and  we  wish  you  Godspeed  in  the 
noble  undertaking  in  behalf  of  truth  and  learning  on  which  you  are 
engaged.  May  it  become  a worthy  memorial  of  a Catholic  people’s 
gratitude  to  God  for  the  divine  goodness  which  abundantly  blessed 
them  during  the  century  which  has  just  closed;  may  it  become  the 
matrix  of  their  intellectual  strength,  and  the  arsenal  of  natural  science 
and  divine  truth,  and  as  a beacon,  shining  brightly  over  your  land,  of 
the  fidelity  and  obedience  to  blessed  Peter  and  to  his  holy  Roman  See. 

We  are  Your  Eminence’s  most  faithful  and  devoted  brethren, 

Thomas  William,  Bishop  of  Hexham  and  Newcastle. 

Robert,  Bishop  of  Leeds. 

Herbert,  Bishop  of  Salford. 

Bernard,  Bishop  of  Liverpool. 

Richard,  Bishop  of  Middlesburgh. 

Edmond,  Bishop  of  Shrewsbury. 

Archbishop  Walsh,  in  transmitting  the  address  of  the  Irish  Bishops, 
wrote  : 

My  Lord  Cardinal:  I have  the  honor  of  forwarding  to  you 
with  this  line  the  address  of  the  Irish  bishops  to  Your  Eminence  and 
the  other  Catholic  prelates  of  the  United  States  on  the  occasion  of 
your  approaching  centenary  celebration. 

It  speaks  for  itself,  but  it  reflects,  I can  assure  Your  Eminence, 
very  imperfectly  indeed  the  dee])  feelings  of  respect  and  veneration 
entertained  for  you,  My  Lord  Cardinal,  personally,  and  for  your 
American  colleagues  by  the  archbishops  and  bishops  of  Ireland.  I 
remain,  My  Lord  Cardinal,  with  great  esteem,  Your  Eminence’s  most 
faithful  servant,  William  J.  Walsh, 

Archbishop  of  Dublin. 

Address  of  the  Most  Reverend , the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of 
Ireland,  to  His  Eminence , Cardinal  Gibbons,  and  the  Most  Reverend, 
the  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  the  United  States  of  America,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  celebration  of  the  centenary  of  the  establishment  of  the 
hierarchy  in  the  United  States. 

Most  Eminent  Cardinal  and  Venerable  Brethren:  It  would  be 
strange  indeed  did  not  the  great  thanksgiving  that  now  goes  up  to  heaven 
from  the  great  heart  of  the  American  church  find  an  echo  from  our 
Irish  shores.  Ireland  rejoices  with  America,  and  we,  the  prelates  of 
Ireland,  desire  to  give  expression  to  that  sympathetic  joy.  Next  to  the 
mother  of  all  churches,  Rome  herself,  what  ancient  church  in  Christen- 
dom can  claim  a better  right  to  share  your  centenary  celebration  than 
the  church  of  Ireland  ? At  her  breasts  were  you  nourished.  From  her 
fecundity  have  children  come  to  you  ; prelates,  pastors,  people  has  she 
brought  forth  and  nursed  that  she  might  make  them  your  inheritance. 
Were  her  voice  then  absent  from  your  Te  Deum  you  would  yourselves,  we 
feel,  deplore  the  loss  and  the  world  would  justly  wonder  at  her  silence. 


THE  BALTIMORE  EES  Til  7 TIES. 


IOI 


We  hasten,  therefore,  to  congratulate  you,  the  venerable  hier- 
archy of  America,  on  the  splendid  proof  your  hundred  years  have 
given  of  the  eternal  youth  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Gigantic  as  has 
been  the  progress  of  your  free,  unfettered  people,  and  appalling  as 
has  been  the  swift  advance  of  error  in  its  train,  Catholic  truth  has 
outstripped  all  in  its  rapid  spread  amongst  you,  and  in  the  perfect 
organization  of  its  onward  march.  The  mere  numerical  increase,  how- 
ever, of  your  bishops,  priests,  and  people,  would  be,  we  know,  an 
insufficient  test  of  the  Catholic  vitality  that  energizes  the  American 
church.  But  equal  fully  to  her  growth  in  numbers  has  been  her  spir- 
itual vigor  and  her  deep-rooted  fidelity  to  the  centre  of  Catholic  unity, 
and  we  who  glory  in  the  fire-tried  faith  and  unshaken  allegiance  of  our 
ancient  race  rejoice  to  see  in  the  new  land  which  they  have  helped  so 
largely  to  people  and  catholicize,  the  same  characteristic  virtues,  the 
same  pledges  of  devotion  to  the  changeless  truth  and  to  its  infallible 
guardian,  Christ’s  vicar  upon  earth.  While,  therefore,  the  Catholic 
Church  of  America,  in  presence  of  this  wondrous  progress,  cries  out 
in  the  words  of  the  psalmist,  “Who  is  God  but  our  God?  God  who 
hath  girt  me  with  strength  and  made  my  way  blameless;  who  hath 
made  my  feet  like  the  feet  of  harts,”  we,  too,  venerable  brethren, 
lift  up  voices  of  thanksgiving  for  all  that  he  has  wrought  in  you,  and 
for  the  share  he  has  permitted  Ireland  to  have  in  the  grace  and  glory 
of  your  hundred  years.  Nor  can  Ireland,  who  would  be  partaker 
in  your  joy,  forget  that  you,  full  often  through  the  century  just  elapsed, 
have  sorrowed  in  her  sorrows  and  poured  the  wine  of  your  sympathy 
and  the  oil  of  your  generosity  into  her  many 
wounds.  Not  without  feelings  of  liveliest  emo- 
tion have  we  read  your  words,  Most  Eminent 
Cardinal,  in  the  pastoral  letter  that  has  just 
reached  our  shore.  Your  Eminence  writes: 

“Thanks  to  the  blessings  of  an  over-ruling 
Providence,  and  to  the  beneficent  character  of 
our  civil  and  political  institutions,  the  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  has  grown  within  a cen- 
tury from  4,000,000  to  65,000,000  of  people,  as 
happy  and  contented  as  any  that  move  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and,  thanks  to  the  fructifying 
influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  the  liberty 
we  enjoy,  the  progress  of  the  church  has  more 
than  kept  pace  with  the  material  development 
of  the  country.” 

It  has  been  our  lot,  alas!  to  see  our  flocks 
diminishing  under  the  civil  and  political  insti- 
tutions of  this  land,  and  more  than  once  during 
the  century  of  your  happy  progress  have  you 
heard  from  across  the  ocean  the  voice  of  Ireland 
asking  for  bread  for  her  perishing  children.  But 
we  recall  these  sorrows  now  only  that  we  may 
record  our  people’s  gratitude  for  the  generosity 
with  which  America  has  ever  answered  our 
appeals,  and  the  full  strength  of  Christian  sym- 
pathy with  which  she  has  upheld  us  in  our  dis- 
tress. May  God  reward  with  blessings  richer  than 
any  yet  received  the  bishops,  priests,  and  people, 
of  the  American  church,  andal!  their  fellow-citizens  who,  though  outside 
her  pale,  have  yet  shared  her  feelings  and  rivaled  her  bounty  towards 
the  children  of  Ireland.  To  the  great  thanksgiving  with  which  you 
close  the  hundred  years  just  passed  you  are  to  add,  venerable  brethren, 
another  scarcely  less  illustrious  act  with  which  to  open  the  second 
century  of  the  American  church.  The  Catholic  university  of  America 
is  indeed  a mighty  name  to  write  upon  the  first  page  of  the  new  record. 
It  is  an  achievement  and  a promise;  it  is  the  fruit  of  the  steady 
growth  of  Catholic  education  in  the  United  States  for  the  last  hundred 
years,  and  it  contains  the  seeds  of  yet  greater  development  in  time  yet 
to  come.  We  have  learned  too  well  in  Ireland  what  it  is  to  be  with- 
out a Catholic  university  equal  to  our  needs.  Year  after  year  have 
we  deplored  the  disability  that  either  deprived  our  Catholic  youth 
of  higher  education  altogether,  or  drove  them,  in  their  search  for  it, 
whither  our  blessing  could  not  follow  them.  From  our  inmost  heart, 
therefore,  we  felicitate  you  on  the  glorious  inauguration  of  your 
Catholic  university,  and  we  pray  that  the  blessing  of  Leo  which  speeds 
it  on  its  way  may  guard  it  through  ages  yet  to  come  to  be  a guiding 
light  to  the  great  intellect  of  America,  and  the  nursing  mother  of 
those  whose  wisdom  and  whose  sanctity  will  instruct  her  noble  people 
unto  justice. 

Accept,  Your  Eminence  and  Venerable  Brothers,  these  our  words 
of  loving  congratulation  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  sent.  We  had 
hoped  that  some  members  of  our  body  would  have  been  able  in  person 
to  bear  them  to  you.  But  heavy  cares  and  imperative  duties  at  home 


have  prevented  them.  Alas,  our  time  of  weariness  and  struggle  is  not 
yet  passed!  You  know,  however,  that  our  hearts  are  with  you;  that  mill- 
ions of  our  children  are  around  you;  and  that  in  their  love  and  loyalty 
you  have  a pledge  of  our  devoted  attachment  to  you  and  to  the 
glorious  church  and  people  of  the  United  States — a church  and  a 
people  to  which  we  now  send  our  salutation  and  our  blessing. 

Signed  on  behalf  of  all  the  Irish  prelates: 

Michael  Logue,  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  Primate  of  all  Ireland, 

William  J.  Walsh,  Archbishop  of  Dublin  and  Primate  of  Ireland. 

T.  A'.  Croke,  Archbishop  of  Cashel  and  Metropolitan  of  Munster. 

John  MacEvillv,  Archbishop  of  Tuam  and  Metropolitan  of 
Connaught. 

RECEPTION  AT  CONCORDIA  OPERA  HOUSE. 

In  the  Concordia  Opera  House  Monday  night,  were  gathered  at 
Cardinal  Gibbons’s  invitation  about  2,000  ladies  and  gentlemen  to  meet 
the  distinguished  prelates.  The  music  was  by  Prof.  Green’s  orchestra, 
and  Harris  was  the  caterer.  Among  the  first  to  meet  the  two  cardinals 
as  they  entered  the  hall  were  Mayor  Latrobe  and  Mayor-elect  David- 
son, who  had  brief  chats  with  the  cardinals  before  they  took  their 
seats  on  the  stage.  With  them  there  were  Archbishops  Satolli,  Rior- 
dan,  of  San  Francisco,  Ryan,  of  Philadelphia,  Williams,  of  Boston, 
Corrigan,  of  New  York,  Heiss,  of  Milwaukee, 
Duhamel,  of  Ottawa,  Gross,  of  Oregon,  O’Brien, 
of  Halifax,  Janssens,  of  New  Orleans;  Bishops 
Curtis,  of  Wilmington,  Del.;  Cleary,  of  Kings- 
ton, Can.,  Moore,  of  St.  Augustine,  Fla.;  Wad- 
hams,  of  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y. ; Virtue,  of  Ports- 
mouth, Eng.;  Dwenger,  of  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.; 
Loughlin,  of  Brooklin,  N.  Y. ; Durier,  of 
Natchitoches, La. ; Gallagher, of  Galveston, Tex. ; 
Foley,  of  Detroit,  Mich.;  Fitzgerald,  of  Little 
Rock,  Ark.;  McMahon,  of  Hartford,  Conn.; 
McIntyre,  of  Charlottetown,  P.  E.  I. ; Watterson, 
of  Columbus, O. ; Flash, of  La  Crosse,  Wis. ; Bona- 
cum,  of  Lincoln,  Neb.;  Burke,  of  Cheyenne, 
Wy.  T.  ; Rain,  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va. ; Phelan,  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  Bradley,  of  Manchester,  N.  IL; 
Maes,  of  Covington,  Ky. ; O. Farrell,  of  Tren- 
ton, N.  J. ; Van  de  Vyver,  of  Richmond,  Va.; 
Glorieux,of  Idaho,  Bourgade,of  Arizona,  Montes 
d’  Oca,  of  San  Luis  Potosi,  Mex. ; Brondel,  of 
Helena,  Mont.;  Katzer,  of  Green  Bay,  Wis.; 
O’Hara,  of  Scranton,  Pa.;  Lorrain,  of  Pembroke, 
Ont. ; Rademacher,  of  Nashville;  Gillo,of  Mexico; 
Mgr.  G add,  representative  of  Cardinal  Manning. 

Addresses  were  made  by  Messrs.  William  F.  Morris,  of  Washing- 
ton, I).  C. ; Charles  B.  Roberts,  of  Westminster,  Md.,  and  Arch- 
bishop Elder,  of  Cincinnati.  After  the  speeches  the  prelates  made  a 
circuit  of  the  hall,  greeting  everybody,  and  no  one  received  more 
attention  than  Chief  Joseph,  of  the  Flatheads,  and  V hite  Bird,  of  the 
Dakota  Sioux,  who  had  come  to  Baltimore  as  delegates  with  the 
Jesuit  Fathers. 

The  Rev.  William  E.  Starr  and  Mr.  James  R.  Wheeler  were  the 
committee  on  reception,  and  the  ushers  were  Messrs.  James  D. 
Cotter,  J.  F.  Hiskey,  J.  Dugan,  Robert  Biggs,  J.  A.  Fink, 
W.  J.  O’Brien,  Jr.,  William  II.  Perkins,  Jr.,  Dr.  L.  E. 
Neale,  Harry  O’Donovan,  Dr.  Thomas  L.  Shearer,  John  L. 
Cassiday,  G.  M.  Edwards,  Charles  Murphy,  J.  D.  Moulton, 
Simon  Kemp,  Jr.,  L.  Hoffstetter,  A.  J.  Myers,  William  P.  Ryan, 
J.  P.  R.  Walch,  F.  Donnelly,  E.  A.  Donnelly,  Owen  Daily.- 
Charles  Roberts,  Jr.,  Charles  Heuisler,  Harry  Benzinger,  Thorn® ; 
Whalen,  Jr.,  Charles  Landers,  R.  H.  Goldsmith,  Frank  K.  Murphy, 
W.  J.  Fox,  Thomas  O’Neill,  J.  H.  Shriver,  J.  T.  Ryan,  Thomas  J. 
Foley,  W.  J.  Campbell,  Dr.  Charles  O’Donovan. 

Among  those  present  were:  Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Judge 

George  William  Brown,  Judge  Phelps,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  V illiam  Lee, 


White  Bird,  Joseph, 

Sioux  Chief.  Chief  of  the  Flatheads. 


102 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


Hon.  and  Mrs.  Charles  B.  Roberts,  Mr.  Charles  O’Donnell  Lee,  Col. 
Thomas  S.  Lee,  Miss  Pascault,  Mrs.  George  Burns,  Mr.  Outerbridge 
Horsey,  State  Senator  Edelin,  of  Charles  county;  Mayor  Ferdinand 
C.  Latrobe,  Mayor-elect  Robert  C.  Davidson,  Misses  Mary  and 
Nellie  Lee,  ex-Senator  Francis  Kernan,  of  New  York;  J.  J.  Casler, 
the  Misses  Jenkins,  the  Misses  Foley,  Col.  William  H.  Love,  Col. 
Levi  Weinberger,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Moulton,  Miss  Minnie  Moulton,  John 
M.  Lit  tig,  W.  J.  O’Brien,  John  H.  Campbell,  of  Philadelphia; 
Hugh  McCaffrey,  Owen  Kelly,  Joseph  A.  Dougherty,  Wm.  J.  Power, 
Phillip  A.  Nolan,  T.  M.  Dailey,  Thomas  P.  Murgatroyde  and  Post- 
master W.  F.  Harrity,  of  Philadelphia;  Wm.  A.  Golden,  Postmaster 
J.  B.  Larkin,  T.  D.  Casey,  T.  D.  Cullery,  Wm.  Loeffler,  and  John  F. 
Miller,  of  Pittsburgh,  Penn.;  James  McComas,  Wm.  Carroll,  Pierre 
Dugan,  R.  Stockett  Matthews,  Mrs.  C.  C.  Shriver,  Mgr.  Farley, 
of  New  York;  Louis  Benziger,  T.  J.  Larkin,  of  New  York;  James 
David  Coleman,  supreme  president  of  the  Catholic  Knights  of 
America;  Rev.  John  O’Shanahan,  of  New  Orleans;  Rev.  J.  J. 
O’Connor,  of  New  Orleans;  Hon.  Thomas  J.  Semmes,  Judge  Frank 
McGloin,  both  of  New  Orleans;  Dr.  Reuling,  Miss  Hettie  Pascault, 
M iss  Mary  Boone,  Miss  Lina  Hull,  Miss  Dugan,  Hon.  James  Hodges, 
Prof.  Remsen,  and  Skipwith  Wilmer. 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  MORRIS. 

Most  Reverend  and  Right  Reverend  Fathers:  On  behalf  of  the 
venerable  archdiocese  of  Baltimore,  on  behalf  of  its  twin  cities,  on 
behalf  of  its  devotedly  Catholic  population,  I have  the  honor  to  bid 
you  a cordial  welcome.  (Applause.) 

When  you  were  last  gathered  in  this  city,  it  was  to  meet  in  solemn 
council,  and  to  perform  the  duties  of  wise  and  prudent  legislation 
that  were  devolved  upon  you.  You  are  now  assembled  to  contemplate 
the  lesult  of  your  labors,  and  the  result  of  the  labors  of  your  pred- 
ecessors for  a hundred  years,  and  to  mingle  your  mutual  congratula- 
tions on  the  great  success  that  has  been  achieved.  ( Applause.) 

In  the  long  and  weary  journey  from  the  desert  by  the  sea  to  the 
mountains  of  God,  you  have  reached  a noble  eminence,  where,  paus- 
ing a moment  to  survey  the  landscape  and  to  gaze  back  over  the 
region  which  you  have  traversed,  you  behold  a land  of  beauty  reach- 
ing far  away  to  the  horizon’s  purple  rim — fields  of  grain  and  smiling 
vineyards;  green  valleys,  whose  rippling  streams  have  sprung  from  the 
blood  of  your  martyrs;  plains  of  waving  corn  sown  by  the  labors  of 
your  confessors;  cities  of  refuge,  with  radiant  temples  uprising  in 
their  midst,  the  work  of  your  Levites  and  your  consecrated  virgins; 
and  the  glorious  view  may  well  engage  your  attention  for  a moment 
while  you  inhale  new  vigor  to  take  up  your  journey  again  to  the 
higher  mountains  that  tower  up  beyond  you,  and  from  which  your 
successor,  a hundred,  five  hundred  years  from  this,  will  look  down 
upon  the  hills  reached  by  you,  and  know  that  but  for  your  efforts 
no  higher  heights  could  ever  have  been  reached  by  them. 

The  long  panorama  of  a hundred  years  is  spread  out  before 
you.  Beyond  it  reaches  the  broad  expanse  of  two  hundred  years 
of  rugged  toil  and  danger,  of  struggle  with  the  savagery  of  the  wilder- 
ness, and  with  the  more  desperate  savagery  of  man.  And  still  further 
away,  now  fortunately  no  more  than  a faint  streak  in  the  horizon, 
is  the  Red  Sea  of  persecution  through  which  we  were  obliged  to  pass 
before  we  could  reach  even  the  wilderness,  by  which,  through  thorny 
paths  and  devious  ways,  lay  our  course  to  the  promised  land. 

Most  prominent  figures  in  the  landscape  are  those  of  our 
Catholic  triumvirate  of  heroic  pioneers — the  world-seeking  Genoese, 
the  brave  and  wise  and  good  baron  of  Baltimore,  and  the  sainted 
founder  of  our  hierarchy — Columbus,  Calvert,  and  Carroll.  But  deeds 
of  heroism  rise  like  glittering  spires  through  all  the  autumn  land. 
And  if  perchance  the  tombs  of  those  who  have  perished  on  the  way 
are  also  conspicuous  on  the  hill  sides  and  beneath  the  weeping  willows 
that  line  the  woodland  streams,  they  also  are  but  monuments  that 
point  skyward  and  bid  us  onward  to  the  stars.  (Applause.) 

And  now  that  we  have  reached,  not  the  Nebo  from  which  we  may- 
only  view  the  promised  land,  but  even  the  glory  of  Tabor,  where, 
with  the  chosen  three,  we  can  exclaim:  “Lord,  it  is  good  for  us  to 
be  here!”  with  the  spirit  of  the  chosen  three,  we  may  build  us  three 
tabernacles,  one  to  education,  one  to  religious  freedom,  one  to  civil 
liberty.  For  these  three  have  made  the  church  glorious  in  America. 
(Applause.) 

Gentlemen,  there  is  much  in  our  age  and  time  to  shame  the 
patriot  and  to  grieve  the  Christian — corrupt  practices  where  only 
honor  and  virtue  should  reign:  Christian  matrimony  discarded  for 


pagan  divorce;  the  land  honeycombed  with  the  hypocrisies  of  a dis- 
honest political  economy — the  spirit  of  religion  gone  from  a large 
part  of  the  people.  But  if  faith  is  weak,  and  hope  is  faint,  we  have 
still  the  greatest  of  the  three,  sweet  charity,  and  man  is  more  to  man 
in  this,  our  age,  than  he  has  ever  been  before  in  all  the  ages  since  the 
great  separation  of  the  races  on  the  plains  of  Babel. 

It  was  the  Catholic  Church  that  first  proclaimed  the  rights  of  in- 
dividual man  as  against  the  tyranny  of  the  state,  and  the  rights  of 
conscience  as  against  Csesarism.  It  was  the  Catholic  Church  that 
broke  down  the  barriers  which  paganism  first,  feudalism  afterward, 
and  ultimately  denominationalism,  raised  between  the  nations,  and 
sought  to  perpetuate  against  the  brotherhood  of  man.  The  unity  in 
diversity,  the  e pluribus  unum,  which  it  has  ever  been  the  purpose  of 
the  church  to  establish,  our  young  republic  has  sought  to  illustrate  in 
its  governmental  organization;  and  to  the  American  republic  and 
to  the  Catholic  Church,  we  think,  is  justly  due  the  credit  of  the 
wonderful  development  in  our  age  of  the  feeling  of  human  kindness, 
as  we  call  it,  of  the  spirit  of  divine  charity,  as  we  should  call  it. 

We  have  built  up  sovereign  states,  and  broken  down  the  bar- 
riers of  exclusiveness  between  them.  We  have  welded  up  nationalities 
into  one,  and  yet  have  not  sought  to  eliminate  their  honest  diversi- 
ties. The  individual  is  free,  but  he  is  profoundly  reverent  to  the 
law.  Faith,  and  hope,  and  love — faith  in  God  and  man;  hope  in 
the  triumph  of  the  truth  and  the  right;  charity  that  ever  respects  all 
rights  and  ever  strives  to  labor,  not  merely  for  the  greatest  good 
of  the  greatest  number,  but  for  the  general  good  of  all — these  are 
the  foundations  of  our  political  institutions,  and  they  are  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  Christian  religion.  Assuredly  the 
century  which  began  with  the  exaltation  of  Washington  to  the 
presidential  chair  and  of  Carroll  of  the  episcopal  see  of  Baltimore 
— of  which  century  we  are  here  to  celebrate  the  consummation — 
take  it  all  in  all.  has  evidenced  more  largely  the  influence  of  the 
glorious  sermon  on  the  Mount  than  any  of  the  ages  that  have  gone 
before  it. 

Fathers,  the  germ  has  fructified.  The  small  mustard  seed  that 
was  planted  a hundred  years  ago  has  grown  to  overshadow  the 
world,  and  you  are  here  to  rest  a little  while  in  its  shade,  while  you 
calmly  contemplate  the  smiling  prospect  before  you.  Here,  where 
Calvert  planted  religious  freedom,  and  Carroll  planted  the  church 
— where  the  virgin  of  Bethlehem  has  given  name  to  the  land,  and 
the  heroic  organization  which  bears  the  name  of  the  crucified  Nazarene 
first  reared  the  cross — beneath  the  shadow  of  yon  cathedral  dome,  the 
mother  and  the  source  of  all  our  American  churches — within  sight  of 
that  stately  monument  which  patriotism  has  raised  to  the  greatest  of 
patriots — you  are  met  to  celebrate  the  first  century  of  the  Catholic 
hierarchy,  the  consummation  of  the  first  century  of  Catholic  eccle- 
siastical organization  in  the  United  States. 

The  old  see  of  Baltimore  has  gathered  all  her  daughters  and  all 
her  younger  sisters  around  her,  to  celebrate  her  twice-told  golden  jubi- 
lee; and  her  hundredth  anniversary  finds  the  successor  of  Carroll  a 
cardinal  of  the  church,  and  the  vast  wilderness  which  constituted 
Carroll’s  ecclesiastical  domain  the  seat  of  eighty  populous  bishoprics, 
any  one  of  which  can  number  a larger  Catholic  population  than  the 
see  of  Carroll.  From  the  vineland  of  the  Norseman  to  the  Spaniard’s 
Golden  Gate,  the  incense  goes  up  daily  unrestrained  from  twenty 
thousand  altars.  And  daily  and  hourly  our  absent  brethren  are  draw- 
ing nearer  to  us;  and  religious  dissent  is  being  dissolved  in  the  cruci- 
ble of  sovereign  charity  and  eternal  truth. 

It  is  in  truth  an  occasion  on  which  to  rejoice — this  centennial  of 
our  hierarchy.  It  is  in  truth  a day  of  gladness,  such  as  that  great 
day  was,  when,  after  three  centuries  of  desperate  conflict  with  fiery 
persecution,  a red-cross  banner,  with  the  legend,  In  hoc  signo  vinecs, 
blazed  over  the  hosts  of  imperial  Constantine;  and  the  world,  on 
which  at  night  the  sun  had  gone  down  in  the  darkness  of  paganism, 
awoke  to  find  itself  universally  Christian.  In  that  night  the  gods  of 
the  Pantheon  had  vanished;  on  that  day  the  God  of  Calvary  reigned. 
In  this  age  the  idols  of  the  nations  have  again  been  broken;  and  the 
church  suffering  is  again  the  church  triumphant.  The  contest  which 
began  with  Gnosticism  in  the  groves  of  Antioch  and  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nile,  is  drawing  to  a close  with  Agnosticism  on  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic. 

The  see  of  Baltimore  draws  around  her  all  her  children  to  rejoice 
with  her;  but  not  alone  her  children.  From  the  country  of  Las 
Casas  and  Lorenzana,  from  the  land  of  the  Montezumas  and 
Hidalgo,  comes  an  episcopal  brother  to  participate  in  her  jubilee; 
and  we  welcome  him,  because  he  is  a brother,  however  divided 
from  us  in  language  and  lineage,  and  because  he  wears  the  badge 
of  Rome  that  makes  us  one  with  him  in  faith  and  hope  and  love. 
From  the  banks  of  the  noble  St.  Lawrence,  from  the  land  of  Brebceuf 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


103 


and  Marquette,  come  several  of  your  brothers  in  the  episcopacy;  and 
chief  among  them  from  the  old  city  of  Champlain  and  Frontenac,  comes 
the  illustrious  successor  of  Laval,  one  whose  name  is  almost  as  much 
a household  word  in  the  United  States  as  it  is  in  Canada,  for  the  worth 
with  which  he  bears  the  pastoral  staff,  and  the  dignity  with  which  he 
wears  the  Roman  purple.  Even  from  England,  our  mother  England, 
sometimes  perhaps  not  a true  mother  to  us,  but  now  endeared  to  us  by 
the  venerated  names  of  Manning  and  New- 
man, comes  a worthy  and  most  honored 
representative  of  the  English  hierarchy. 

And  Rome  sends  to  us  her  pontifical  am- 
bassador to  testify  to  the  great  interest 
which  the  chief  of  Christendom  takes  in 
the  wonderful  prosperity  of  the  youngest 
of  the  churches  that  acknowledge  his  spir- 
itual supremacy. 

Assuredly  we  have  reason  to  rejoice 
and  be  glad  this  day.  Assuredly  it  is  meet 
and  proper  for  you,  shepherds  of  the  peo- 
ple, to  convene  upon  this  hallowed  ground 
and  to  sing  your  hymns  of  joy  for  noble 
work  divinely  done,  and  to  erect  a fitting 
monument  as  a memorial  to  the  second 
century  and  to  all  the  centuries  that  are  to 
come  of  all  that  has  been  accomplished  by 
the  church  during  the  first  century  of  her 
organization  within  the  United  States.  It 
is  meet  and  proper  that  the  truth  which  is 
yours  you  should  seek  to  perpetuate  as  the 
sole  satisfactory  solvent  of  all  the  problems 
of  the  age  and  as  the  sole  corrective  for 
all  the  ancient  errors  under  new  conditions 
which  constitute  the  sum  and  substance  of 
all  the  aberrations  of  our  time. 

Gentlemen,  on  behalf  of  Catholic  Mary- 
land, on  behalf  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
on  behalf  of  the  descendants  of  the  Cal- 
verts and  the  Carrolls,  in  the  name  of 
the  republic,  in  the  name  of  religion,  we 
bid  you  welcome.  (Applause  long  con- 
tinued.) 

SPEECH  OF  MR.  ROBERTS. 

Your  Eminences,  Most  Reverend  and  Right  Reverend  Prelates,  ana 
Reverend  Clergy  of  the  Catholic  Church:  On  behalf  of  my  Catholic 
fellow-citizens  of  Maryland,  I extend  to  you  greetings  of  most  cordial 
welcome. 

Full  of  sincere  devotion  for  the  great  church 
of  an  honorable  pride  in  the  distinguished  character 
and  abilities  you  bring  to  the  discharge  of  every 
duty,  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  find,  in  your  pres- 
ence here  to-night,  cause  for  profound  gratification. 

The  occasion  is,  however,  one  entirely  worthy 
of  your  presence. 

Whilst  it  is  a leading  purpose  of  this  celebra- 
tion that  great  and  deserved  praise  shall  be  given 
to  the  memory  of  Maryland’s  first  Catholic  arch- 
bishop, it  is  an  object  of  no  less  importance  that 
the  principles  and  teachings  which  made  Arch- 
bishop Carroll’s  life  worthy  of  highest  commenda- 
tion, shall  at  the  close  of  the  century  that  has 
enjoyed  the  blessing  of  his  splendid  example  be 
again  presented  to  the  consideration  and  emulation 
of  the  world,  in  the  home  of  the  patriot  priest  and 
of  his  distinguished  cousin,  the  signer  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  (Applause.) 

Independently  of  these  considerations,  nothing 
could  be  more  appropriate  than  that  you  and  the 
distinguished  members  of  the  Catholic  congress, 
should  assemble  in  the  state  of  Maryland,  whose 
history  is  so  replete  with  glorious  memories;  memo- 
ries that  have  clustered  around  the  Catholic  Church 
in  Maryland  from  provincial  days  to  the  present  hour;  that  tell  of  the 
emancipation  of  religious  thought;  that  teach  the  lessons  of  charity 
and  liberality;  that  proclaim  the  fullest  liberty  of  the  citizen,  restrained 
only  by  proper  limitations  upon  criminal  license;  that  inculcate  enlight- 
ened citizenship  of  the  highest  order  and  present  to  republican  institu- 
tions devoted  followers  and  faithful  adherents. 

Occasions  such  as  the  one  we  celebrate,  are  in  many  ways  of  vast 
importance.  Here  at  the  end  of  one  hundred  years,  we  are  paying 


Most  Rev.  John  B.  Salpointe,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  Santa  Fe,  N.  M. 


represent,  and 


Rt.  Rev.  Nicholas  Matz,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Denver,  Colo. 


grateful  homage  to  the  memory  of  an  honored  and  dutiful  son  of  the 
church,  whom  we  best  honor  in  recalling  to  the  respectful  consideration 
of  the  American  people,  whom  he  loved,  the  teachings  of  that  church, 
which  he  faithfully  served  by  devoting  to  it  the  best  energies  of  a long 
and  useful  life.  (Applause.) 

What  beautiful  tribute  there  is  to  be  iound  here  to-night,  in  great 
and  magnificent  profusion  ! AVe  have  here  from  the  Dominion  of  Can- 
ada, His  Eminence  the  cardinal  archbishop 
of  Quebec  (applause);  from  the  republic  of 
Mexico,  we  have  two  of  her  distinguished 
bishops  (applause);  England  sends  her 
congratulations  through  two  of  her  most 
worthy  prelates  (applause);  and  from  every 
section  of  this  fair  republic  come  representa- 
tives, citizens,  and  honored  dignitaries  of 
the  church;  there  is  yet  another  here,  one 
who  comes  from  beyond  the  sea,  the  Most 
Reverend  Archbishop  Satolli  (long-con- 
tinued applause),  bearing  a blessing  that 
welds  into  one  harmonious  whole  all  hearts 
that  have  here  assembled  to  bear  impartial 
and  merited  testimony  to  the  noble  life 
and  exalted  character  of  that  patriotic  citi- 
zen and  dutiful  priest,  the  first  Catholic 
bishop  of  America,  John  Carroll.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

The  good  which  he  accomplished  in 
his  life  time,  has  been  the  guide  and  lesson 
of  a century  of  activity  in  thought  and  en- 
terprise. It  will  continue  to  be  an  exam- 
ple worthy  of  imitation,  so  long  as  good 
citizens  have  duties  to  perform,  and  good 
priests  blessings  to  bestow. 

There  is  a French  expression  of  pith 
and  force,  which  says:  “Pour  instruction 
on  the  heads  of  the  people;  you  owe  them 
that  baptism.”,  If  that  application  is  due 
to  the  French  people,  is  it  not  equally  due 
to  the  American  people;  especially  when 
viewed  in  the  light  of  the  varied  classes  to 
which  they  belong,  and  the  different  nation- 
alities from  which  they  have  been  drawn?  There  can  be  no  doubt  about 
the  obligation  which  rests  upon  us. as  Catholic  citizens.  Our  country 
not  only  needs  to  have  instruction  poured  on  the  heads  of  the  people,  but 
deeply  into  their  hearts,  for  we  have  had  in  this  country  some  startling 
experiences  of  recent  years,  which  clearly  demonstrate,  that  over- 
stocked heads  and  vicious  hearts  are  destructive  of  peace  and  good 
order  and  dangerous  to  the  welfare  of  the  Republic. 
(Applause.)  It  is  the  cry  of  the  madman,  who 
extols  liberty  on  the  one  hand  and  demonstrates  his 
love  for  it  on  the  other,  by  dealing  death  to  the 
citizen  and  destruction  to  all  governmental  author- 
ity. Liberty  is  unquestionaby  an  important  factor 
in  the  progress  and  happiness  of  our  people,  but  it 
must  be  that  liberty  which  conduces  to  the  good  of 
the  citizen  and  not  to  the  destruction  of  law  and 
order.  (Applause.) 

Liberty  is  only  a broken  chalice,  when  she 
plays  the  demagogue  and  teaches  the  citizen  to 
define  her  prerogative  as  meaning  license  without 
restraint.  It  all  well  enough  to  talk  about  liberty 
enlightening  the  world,  for  the  world  is  sadly  in 
need  of  enlightment,  but  liberty  can  not  teach  en- 
lightenment to  the  world  until  she  has  been  herself 
first  enlightened  by  the  chastening  influences  of 
Christianity.  (Applause.)  How  is  this  enlighten- 
ment to  be  obtained  ? In  so  far  as  the  teachings  of 
the  church  are  concerned  I would  say,  “By  pour- 
ing instruction  upon  the  heads  of  the  people,”  for 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  we  Catholics  are  not  so 
much  judged  by  what  we  believe,  as  by  what  we  are 
supposed  to  believe.  This  is  in  some  measure  as  true  to-day  as  it  was 
in  1788,  when  Father  Carroll  joined  his  fellow  priests  in  an  appeal  to 
the  sovereign  pontiff  for  the  appointment  of  a bishop  for  this  country,  in 
which  they  say,  “ AA’e  have  nothing  in  view,  except  the  increase  of  our 
holy  faith,  growth  of  piety,  vigor  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  and  the 
complete  refutation  of false  opinions  in  regard  to  the  Catholic  religion." 

The  century  just  completed  shows  very  conclusively  that  nowhere 
in  this  wide  world  has  the  Catholic  Church  made  more  gratifying  prog- 


104 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


ress  than  here  in  the  United  States,  under  the  benign  influence  and 
blessing  of  republican  institutions.  This  fact  certainly  does  not  suggest 
that  the  Catholic  Church  is  unsuited  to  the  wants  of  a republican  gov- 
ernment, or  is  inimical  to  its  best  intererests.  Rather,  does  it  not 
clearly  demonstrate  that  the  church  has  always  shown  herself  to  be 
the  steadfast  friend  of  the  government,  and  by  her  conservative  con- 
duct gained  the  confidence  and  respect  of  its  citizens?  She  has  gone 
her  way  peacefully  and  gently,  as  the  dew  falls  from  heaven,  and 
planted  the  sign  of  our  faith  in  the  homes  of  the  American  people, 
until  her  children  in  the  republic  aggregate  a vast  multitude  of  Catho- 
lic freemen,  loyal  alike  to  country  and  to  God.  (Applause.) 

It  ought  to  be  understood  that  we  are  not  troubling  ourselves 
about  who  first  secured  to  the  people  of  this  country  freedom  from 
interference  in  matters  of  religious  belief,  nor  about  other  questions 
of  like  importance,  that  have  long  been  settled  in  our  history,  yet  look- 
ing to  the  future,  let  us  earnestly  inquire,  “Who  will  go  farther  than 
ourselves  to  defend  the  priceless  heritage  of  free  institutions?  ” Let 
the  century  now  beginning  note  with  candor  our  course,  and  enter  just 
judgment  thereon. 

In  so  far  as  I have  spoken  of  the  life  and  character  of  Archbishop 
Carroll,  and  of  the  manner  in  which  he  discharged  every  duty,  civil 
and  religious,  I have  necessarily  spoken  of  a period  between  which 
and  the  present,  there  lies  the  space  of  ioo  eventful  years.  It  is  no 
part  of  the  pleasant  duty  assigned  me,  that  I should  do  more  than  pay 
passing  tribute  to  the  honored  names  of  the  great  archbishops  who 
have  during  that  period  graced  the  see  of  Baltimore  with  their  exem- 
plary piety  and  profound  learning.  (Applause.)  History  has  per- 
formed that  task. 

There  remains  yet  to  be  spoken  a word  concerning  the  present 
and  I am  sure  no  one  is  better  qualified  to  speak  for  the  Catholic 
Church  in  America  than  he  whom  we  are  proud  to  name,  His  Emi- 
nence, the  cardinal  archbishop  of  Baltimore.  (Applause.)  I quote 
the  following  from  his  pastoral  letter  on  the  centennial:  “ We  rejoice 
in  the  growth  of  the  Catholic  religion  not  for  our  own  sakes  only;  for 
that  would  be  a narrow  and  selfish  satisfaction.  Our  joy  rests  on 
broader  grounds.  We  rejoice  for  our  country’s  sake,  firmly  believing 
that  the  progress  of  the  Christain  faith  will  contribute  to  the  stability 
and  perpetuity  of  the  government.  In  this  country  the  citizen  happily 
enjoys  the  broadest  exercise  of  personal  freedom.  But  the  wider  the 
scope  of  liberty,  the  more  efficient  should  be  the  safeguards  to  prevent 
it  from  being  abused  and  degenerating  into  license.  The  Catholic 
Church  is  the  friend  of  law  and  order;  she  is  the  unholder  of  legitimate 
authority,  she  is  the  stern  opponent  of  anarchy  on  the  one  hand,  and 
of  oppression  on  the  other,  and  by  her  conservative  spirit  she  is  an 
element  of  strength  to  the  nation.  (Applause.)  Indeed,  to  proclaim 
loyalty  to  a government  like  ours,  is,  as  it  ought  to  be,  a spontaneous 
act  of  love,  as  well  as  a duty  to  all  who  preach  the' Gospel.” 

Beautiful  and  forcible  as  these  lines  are,  they  are  but  the  reasser- 
tion of  the  sentiments  and  principles  that  have  animated  the  hearts 
of  American  Catholics  from  colonial  days  to  the  present  time;  they 
are  the  echoing  cadences  of  a century  of  Catholic  belief,  saluting  the 
bright  morn  of  the  new  century  now  beginning,  in  the  history  of  the 
Catholic  hierarchy  of  this  republic.  (Applause.) 

But  I have  trespassed  beyond  my  limit.  In  conclusion,  I desire 
to  say  to  all  who  have  come  from  far  and  near;  from  lands  of  snow 
and  lands  of  sun,  to  pay  gracious  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a great 
Marylander,  who  was  faithful  to  every  trust,  and  expressing  the  thanks 
of  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  for  the  honor  you  have  conferred  upon 
them  by  your  presence  here,  I adopt  the  sentiment,  if  not  the  exact 
phrase  of  Maryland’s  beautiful  motto,  “We  crown  you  with  the 
shield  of  our  good  wishes.”  (Applause.) 

REPLY  OF  ARCHBISHOP  ELDER. 

Gentlemen:  I thank  you  in  the  name  of  the  assembled  clergy 
and  laity  for  the  words  of  welcome  which  you  have  spoken,  and  I beg 
you  to  pardon  a little  egotism  in  a man  no  longer  young,  if  I thank 
His  Eminence  who  so  deservedly  occupies  the  centre  of  this  occasion 
for  the  honor  he  has  done  to  me,  in  inviting  me  to  respond  to  the 
people  of  Baltimore. 

In  the  presence  of  so  many,  so  much  more  able  to  express  the 
sentiments  of  your  visitors,  I recognize  that  the  only  reason  for  his 
choice  is  that  I glory  in  being,  myself,  a Baltimorean.  (Applause.) 
Of  the  long  series  of  illustrious  councils  which  have  graced  your  ven- 
erable cathedral,  I had  my  place  in  the  very  first  in  1829.  My  boy’s 
heart  was  swelled  with  satisfaction,  and  I hope  with  holy  faith,  as  I 
sat  at  the  feet  of  the  venerable  Bishop  Rosati,  of  St.  Louis,  to  hold 
his  mitre.  And  when  for  the  first  time  your  city  was  blessed  with  the 
building  of  a holy  convent,  where,  like  Moses  on  the  mountain,  offer- 
ing prayers  which  brought  victory  to  the  soldiers  fighting  in  the  plains 


(applause),  the  Carmelite  nuns  should  offer  supplications  to  God  for 
the  men  and  women  fighting  the  hard  battles  of  life  in  the  busy  city, 
I had  my  boy’s  share  in  that  good  work.  For  your  most  worthy  citi- 
zen, Mr.  Daniel  Foley,  and  I,  were  the  sanctuary  boys  that  served 
Archbishop  Whitfield  when  he  laid  the  corner  stone  at  the  original 
site  on  Aisquith  street.  And  on  the  other  hand,  after  thirty  odd 
years  of  absence  from  Baltimore  and  Maryland,  I can  claim  the  char- 
acter of  a guest;  and  so  feel  free  to  utter  some  words  of  compliment, 
made  not  hollow,  but  of  solid  truth.  We  are  not  surprised  at  receiv- 
ing this  warm  welcome  in  Baltimore.  Its  popular  title  of  “The 
Monumental  City,”  testifies  how  traditional  with  her  is  her  warmth  of 
heart;  which  both  remembers  her  patriots  and  benefactors  when  they 
are  passed  away,  and  opens  the  doors  of  her  hospitality  not  only  to 
the  friends  who  come  to  visit,  but  also  to  the  needy  who  flee  to  her 
for  shelter.  And  in  this  she  shows  that  her  hospitality  is  not  of  the 
merely  natural  order,  which  entertains  friends  only  for  the  pleasure  of 
their  company,  and  goes  no  farther.  Her  open  doors  on  these  occas- 
ions are  but  one  of  the  manifestations  of  her  Christian  charity;  that 
is,  her  love  of  God  exercised  in  loving  her  neighbor.  For  she  has 
always  been  ready  to  receive  the  stranger  in  his  necessities,  as  well  as 
the  acquaintance  in  his  friendliness. 

We  may  say  she  inherits  this  in  her  blood,  for  she  is  the  daughter 
of  Maryland,  and  the  Land  of  Mary  was  from  the  beginning  like  Mary 
herself,  the  help  of  Christians,  the  refuge  of  the  needy,  the  comfort  of 
the  afflicted.  (Applause.) 

And  among  the  fair  daughters  of  Maryland,  your  city  deservedlv 
bears  the  name  of  him  (applause)  who  infused  this  spirit  into  all  his 
followers,  and  planted  it  so  deeply  in  the  colony  he  founded,  that, 
although  for  a long  and  melancholy  interval  it  was  trampled  down  by 
the  tread  of  intolerance  and  injustice,  yet  scarcely  had  Maryland 
gained  her  independence  when  the  young  republic  pushed  aside  the 
ruthless  foot,  and  the  poor  crushed  flower  of  sweet  charity  to  all  rose 
agkin  to  life  and  beauty  because  its  roots  had  been  set  so  deep  by  the 
first  Lord  Baltimore. 

Early  in  her  history  your  city  gave  a conspicuous  and  most  hon- 
orable manifestation  of  that  Christian  hospitality  which  “renders 
good,  hoping  no  return  ! ” 

When  the  Acadians  were  carried  off  from  Nova  Scotia  in  1755 
and  scattered,  homeless  and  destitute,  among  the  various  colonies, 
Maryland  was  one,  thank  God  not  the  only  one,  but  one  of  the  very 
few  that  received  them  with  kindness,  and  gave  them  substantial  aid. 
And  Baltimore  was  the  only  place  to  furnish  them  with  a comfort 
which  lifted  their  hearts  above  the  misery  and  injustice  they  were  suf- 
fering, and  sweetened  their  condition  by  a taste  of  heavenly  good 
things.  (Applause.)  It  was  only  in  Baltimore  they  obtained  the 
blessings  of  their  religion.  The  priest  of  God  came  to  them  from 
Mr.  Carroll’s  manor  of  Doughoreghan,  and  gave  them  the  happiness 
of  assisting  at  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  and  receiving  the  other 
ministrations  of  their  religion.  And  God’s  providence  afterwards 
arranged  a very  beautiful  retribution.  For  just  in  the  place  where, by 
the  kindness  of  Baltimoreans,  the  holy  sacrifice  was  offered  for  the 
refection  of  those  poor  exiles,  just  there  now  rises  the  monument  by 
which  Baltimore  commemorates  how  God  protected  herself  against 
the  same  enemy  that  had  spoiled  and  driven  out  the  Acadians.  The 
house  in  which  Mass  was  celebrated  stood  on  the  square  of  the  Battle 
Monument.  And  reaching  beyond  their  local  interests,  embracing  all 
our  country  in  their  hearts,  your  state  and  city  were  the  first  in  all 
the  Union  to  erect  a monument  of  grand  proportions  and  of  graceful 
though  simple  form,  like  the  character  of  the  man  himself,  to  the 
father  of  our  country — the  father  who  gave  it  birth  by  leading  our 
soldiers  through  discouragement  and  privation  to  victory  and  free- 
dom, and  afterwards  contributed  so  much  to  give  it  form  and  strength, 
by  leading  the  people  through  financial  perplexities  and  conflicting 
interests  to  the  formation  of  our  constitution  and  the  consolidation  of 
our  united  republic.  You  were  the  first  to  build  a monument  to 
Washington.  (Applause.) 

Later  on,  true  to  her  spirit  of  hospitality  to  strangers  as  well  as 
to  friends,  Baltimore  opened  her  sheltering  arms  to  the  refugees  from 
the  revolution  in  San  Domingo.  (Applause.)  Not  only  the  white 
people,  but  the  poor  negroes  who  had  refused  to  take  part  in  the  mas- 
sacre of  their  masters,  were  welcomed  here.  And  these  last  showed 
their  sense  of  this  goodness  by  their  exemplary  conduct,  culminating 
in  the  formation  under  the  direction  of  the  venerable  Father  Joubert, 
of  that  religious  community  which  has  contributed  so  much  to  merit 
for  our  colored  population  the  respect  of  all  our  citizens,  the  Oblate 
Sisters  of  Providence. 

And  again  following  her  traditions  of  gratefulness,  Baltimore 
erected,  in  1832,  a monument,  unpretentious  indeed,  like  the  lives  of 
those  it  commemorated,  but  expressive  of  her  grateful  heart,  in  honor 


105 


Rt.  Rev.  Otto  Zardetti,  D.  D.. 
Bisliop  oi  St.  Cloud.  Minn. 


Rt.  Rev.  J.  B.  Cotter,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Winona,  Minn. 


Most  Rev.  John  Ireland,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  St.  Paul,  Minn. 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


106 

of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  who  died  in  the  service  of  the  sick  during 
the  first  and  most  desolating  visit  of  the  Asiatic  cholera.  Every  vis- 
itor to  the  beautiful  new  Catholic  cemetery  must  admire  in  this  mon- 
ument the  devotion  of  these  Sisters,  and  the  grateful  spirit  of  your 
people. 

Your  city  was  likewise  early  in  showing  her  superiority  to  narrow 
prejudices  in  religion.  More  than  sixty  years  ago,  in  her  celebration 
of  the  Fourth  of  July,  she  invited  Rev.  Dr.  Eccleston,  afterwards  one 
in  the  illustrious  series  of  your  archbishops,  then  a young  priest  just 
returned  from  his  studies  in  Paris,  to  offer  the  public  prayer  of  thanks 
and  supplication  for  the  country. 

You  need  not  make  exaggerated  inferences  about  my  own  age, 
when  I tell  you  that  it  is  one  of  the  recollections  of  my  early  boy- 
hood, my  standing  with  my  father  in  the  square  of  the  Holiday-Street 
Theatre  on  that  occasion  while  the  prayer  was  offered,  and  the 
addresses  delivered,  Dr.  Eccleston  in  surplice  and  stole,  and  by  his 
side,  the  commanding  form  of  his  superior,  the  venerable  Dr.  Deluol. 

Your  cordial  welcome  to  us  then,  this  evening,  and  the  right 
princely  hospitality  that  your  city  gives  us  on  this  occasion,  does  not 
surprise  us  when  we  recall  your  history.  But  that'  history  shows  us 
the  higher  value  of  your  present  manifestations.  It  is  not  one  beau- 
tiful flower  forced  in  a hot-house  for  the  occasion  ; but  it  is  the  splen- 
did bloom  of  a stately  plant  that  has  been  rooted  and  bearing  flowers 
and  fruit  in  Baltimore  since  her  first  foundation.  (Applause.)  And 
as  the  very  object  of  our  assembling  in  Baltimore  is  to  give  thanks  to 
God,  and  to  rejoice  among  ourselves,  for  the  growth  that  God  has 
given  to  his  works  among  us,  in  the  past  hundred  years,  our  thanks 
and  rejoicing  are  called  forth  not  only  by  the  increase  of  our  mem- 
bers, and  of  our  institutions  of  religion  and  education,  but  still  more 
by  the  growth  of  charity  shown  in  the  brotherly  love  that  commonly 
prevails  among  our  people,  here  and  everywhere  throughout  our 
country.  And  certainly  these  historic  examples  of  charity  in  Balti- 
more have  had  their  share  in  diffusing  this  spirit  a spirit  that  now 
makes  the  American  people  so  ready  and  so  liberal  to  succor  the  af- 
flicted on  all  occasions  of  need,  in  calamities  from  flood  and  fire  and 
pestilence.  With  deepest  gratitude  do  I refer  to  this,  for  I have  had 
touching  experience  of  its  benefits.  (Applause.) 

When  the  yellow  fever  was  desolating  so  many  of  our  southern 
towns,  in  1878,  copious  streams  of  substantial  help,  in  money,  cloth- 
ing, and  provisions  flowed  down  upon  us  from  every  part  of  the  north, 
as  if  to  obliterate,  in  the  waters  of  charity,  all  traces  that  might  remain 
of  the  bloody  strife  in  which  we  had  been  so  recently  engaged.  (Ap- 
plause.) And  Baltimore  was  conspicuous  among  our  benefactors. 
Religious  animosities,  likewise,  have  grown  so  disfavored  that  they 
have  to  hide  their  diminished  heads  in  shame.  And  the  sweet  conta- 
gion of  charity  has  spread  still  farther.  Particularly  the  mother 
country  has  not  disdained  to  rival,  and  it  may  be  to  surpass  her 
daughter,  in  liberal  protection  of  the  rights  of  conscience.  His  Em- 
inence the  cardinal  archbishop  of  Quebec,  and  all  our  illustrious 
visitors  from  the  British  provinces,  bear  their  willing  testimony  to  this. 

The  government  which  persecuted  and  strove  to  exterminate 
the  Acadians;  which  100  years  ago  was  so  intolerant  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church  that  our  Archbishop  Carroll  was  consecrated  in  the 
private  chapel  of  Lulworth  castle,  partly  because  the  function  could 
not  be  held  in  any  public  church-  -that  same  government  is  now,  not 
only  the  protector  of  their  religious  liberties,  but  a fostering  mother 
(applause),  so  that  even  the  invitations  to  share  with  us  the  independ- 
ence we  enjoy,  cannot  tempt  our  neighbors  from  their  loyalty. 
(Laughter.) 

Now,  when  we  contemplate  this  beautiful  progress,  in  the  last 
hundred  years,  of  these  finer  and  higher  sentiments  of  humanity  among 
our  people  and  our  neighbors,  it  is  a glorious  boast  for  Baltimore  that 
so  long  ago  she  took  a leading  place,  and  held  it  so  steadily  in  this 
forward  march  of  heavenly  charity. 

And,  therefore,  good  friends  of  Baltimore,  we  not  only  thank  you 
for  this  warm  reception,  but  still  more  we  congratulate  you  on  your 
large  share  in  the  progress  we  are  celebrating.  And  we  join  you 
in  praising  God  that  he  gave  to  your  forefathers  and  yourselves  the 
spirit  which  has  made  your  city  deserve  to  be  the  scene  of  this  centennial. 

And  let  us  all  join  hands  and  hearts  to  practise  in  the  future  what 
has  been  so  rich  of  blessing  in  the  past.  The  inheritance  that  we  have 
received  from  the  century  that  is  gone,  let  each  one  of  us  resolve  to 
hand  it  down,  as  far  as  may  be  allowed  him,  in  the  century  that  is  be- 
ginning, hand  it  down  with  undiminished  force  and  unblemished 
beauty,  by  his  own  good  exercise  of  all  these  virtues,  so  that  they  who 
shall  celebrate  the  next  centennial  may  look  back,  as  we  now  look 
back,  with  gratitude  and  emulation.  (Applause.) 

And  let  us  add  the  prayer,  that  whereas  all  these  good  things,  for 
which  we  now  rejoice,  are  given  by  God  for  no  other  end  but  that 


they  may  help  us  to  know  him,  and  love  him,  and  serve  him  in  this 
life,  and  be  happy  with  him  forever  in  the  next,  may  we  all'  be  so  faith- 
ful in  this  good  use  of  them,  that  when  the  next  centennial  shall  be 
celebrated,  we  may  be  with  God,  offering  to  him  the  thanksgivings 
and  the  supplications  of  the  people  and  the  guests  of  the  Baltimore  of 
1989.  (Applause.) 

While  the  reception  was  in  progress,  the  whole  city  was  doubly 
illuminated,  to  the  delight  of  thousands  who  could  not  go  to  Concordia. 
From  the  cathedral  as  a centre,  churches,  institutions,  and  private 
residences  gave  forth  brilliant  effects  in  gas,  lanterns,  and  electric 
lights,  and  a great  glow  seemed  settled  over  the  city  and  penetrated 
the  darkness  of  the  suburbs.  Among  the  institutions  and  churches 
illuminated  were  the  cathedral,  the  cardinal’s  residence,  St.  Alphon- 
sus’  church,  Loyola  College,  St.  Ignatius  church,  St.  John’s  church, 
home  of  the  Little  Sisters  of  the  Poor,  academy  of  the  Visitation, 
Calvert  hall,  St.  James’  church,  St.  Paul’s  church,  St.  Wenceslaus’ 
church,  St.  Lawrence’s  church,  St.  Joseph’s  church,  church  of  the 
Holy  Cross,  Corpus  Christi  church,  Immaculate  Conception  church, 
St.  Michael’s  church,  Notre  Dame  academy,  St.  Patrick’s  church, 
St.  Leo’s  church,  St.  Mary’s  seminary,  St.  Monica’s  church,  St.  Pius’ 
church,  St.  Martin’s  church,  St.  Joseph’s  industrial  school,  house  of 
the  Good  Shepherd,  and  the  church  of  the  Fourteen  Holy  Martyrs. 

THE  TORCH  LIGHT  PARADE. 

This  began  at  half  past  eight  o’clock  on  Tuesday  evening,  the 
1 -2th,  and  the  last  man  had  not  finished  until  long  past  midnight,  the 
four  miles’  march  up  Broadway,  to  Baltimore  street,  to  Charles,  to  Cen- 
tre, to  Calvert,  to  Madison,  to  Eutaw,  to  Baltimore  streets.  Along  this 
route  little  space  was  left  on  any  of  the  sidewalks,  so  great  was 
the  outpouring  of  the  people.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  one-half  of  the 
population  of  Baltimore  witnessed  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  gaily 
attired  bands,  seventy  in  number,  30,000  men  and  boys  on  floats, 
horseback,  in  barouches,  omnibuses,  wagons  and  daglins,  or  afoot. 
Every  man  of  them  carried  a lamp,  flash  light,  Bengal  light,  or 
lantern,  and  in  some  of  the  wagons  were  calcium  lights  which  threw 
colors  upon  the  mass  of  smoke  rising  from  the  burning  Greek  fire  all 
along  the  line.  The  greatest  crush  was  at  the  cardinal’s  residence  on 
North  Charles  street.  On  the  right  of  the  entrance  was  a stand  filled 
with  prelates;  on  the  left  a stand  filled  with  priests  and  seminarians, 
and  every  available  inch  of  space  in  the  street,  on  the  sidewalks,  or  at 
neighboring  windows  was  occupied  by  humanity.  Cardinal  Gibbons 
viewed  the  procession  from  the  front  steps  and  showed  his  appreciation 
of  the  floats  and  transparencies,  the  American  colors  carried  by  those 
in  line,  the  music  of  such  organizations  as  Itzel’s  Fifth  Regiment  band, 
of  Baltimore,  Sonsa’s  Marine  band,  of  Washington,  the  Naval  Acad- 
emy band,  of  Annapolis,  La  Salle  Academy  band  of  boys  from  Phila- 
delphia, as  they  played  “Maryland,”  “Dixie,”  “Star  Spangled 
Banner,”  “Marching  thro’  Georgia,”  “Hail,  Columbia,”  and  other 
strains,  the  evolutions  of  uniformed  knights,  Catholic  Total  Absti- 
nence Society,  Catholic  Benevolent  Legion,  Young  Catholics’  Friend 
Society,  parochial,  benevolent,  library,  and  college  organizations. 
Cardinal  Gibbons  had  near  him  Cardinal  Taschereau,  Archbishops 
Corrigan  and  Satolli,  until  the  cool  air  compelled  him  to  go  to  the 
bay  window  above  the  door,  where  he  watched  the  procession  to  its  end. 

Mr.  James  R.  Wheeler  was  chief  marshal  of  the  parade,  and  had 
as  his  aides  General  Bradley  T.  Johnson,  Captain  William  I.  Rasin, 
M.  O.  Shriver,  Dr.  Chas.  S.  Grindall,  A.  K.  Shriver,  John  E.  Grin- 
dall,  Captain  Frank  X.  Ward,  Hon.  J.  F.  C.  Talbott,  M.  F.  Connor, 
George  W.  Riddlemoser,  John  V.  Johnson,  Colonel  Lawrence  B. 
McCabe,  Captain  Winfield  Peters,  W.  O.  Sollers,  Wm.  F.  Wheatley, 
AY.  T.  Kelly,  S.  D.  Richardson,  E.  J.  Hanrahan,  J.  W.  Sasscer,  J.  B. 
Hanrahan,  John  J.  Duffy,  John  T.  Murphy,  N.  Kohlerman,  Tristan 
Du  Marias,  Jas.  J.  McCann,  Thomas  J.  Rooney,  Thomas  M.  Hanson, 
Robert  Biggs,  Joseph  A.  Grindall,  Edward  A.  Donnelly,  M.  B.  Brown, 
Chas.  Kettlewell,  Joseph  R.  Stonebraker,  W.  H.  Fitzgerald,  D.  L. 
Thomas,  Capt.  D.  B.  Taylor,  William  J.  Donnelly,  Jeff.  J.  Walsh,  C. 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES 


i°7 


G.  Dixon,  of  Pittsburgh;  Patrick  Gaierty,  J.  E. 
Keenan,  Pa-trick  Corbitt,  Owen  Daily,  Jno.  W. 
Carr,  P.  J.  King,  Thos.  F.  Shriver,  Thos.  J.  Hanly, 
John  Moylan,  Jr.,  Jos.  F.  Connor,  John  M. 
O'Hara,  P.  R.  Welsh,  Martin  Healy,  Wm.  J. 
Groeninger,  N.  Wunder,  D.  J-  Bevan,  T.  Joseph 
Kelly,  Colonel  S.  J.  Lanahan,  Thomas  Foley,  A. 
W.  Goodall,  Henry  S.  Jenkins,  H.  H.  Bottomer, 
1).  H.  Lucchesi,  August  Simon,  E.  B.  Dixon,  Colonel 
George  R.  Gaither,  J.  L.  Farnan,  Townley  Robey, 
Samuel  G.  Lancaster,  Colonel  William  Norris, 
Joseph  M.  McCann,  J.  T.  Mason,  John  Graham, 
Jas.  MacAvoy,  Jos.  MacAvoy,  J.  J.  Nunan,  Jas. 
Carroll,  J.  W.  Edwards,  Capt.  W.  C.  Dunn,  Joshua 
Thomas,  D.  N.  Henning,  of  Westminster;  P.  Rodg- 
ers, Daniel  A.  Boone,  General  F.  J.  Allen,  of  New 
York;  Solomon  Straus,  W.  E.  Messersmith,  H.  J. 
Goldsborough,  Albert  T.  Myer,  Dr.  William  Lee, 
W.  II.  Monogue,  of  Washington;  H.  W.  Sohon,  of 
Washington;  Charles  A.  Phelan,  Dr.  Thos. 

Shearer,  Frank  C.  Reese,  Thomas  A. 

Whelan,  B.  J.  Coyle,  of  Washington;  P.  J. 

Farmer,  J.  T.  Farmer,  Peter  A.  Kelly,  R. 


Rt.  Rev.  Francis  Mora,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Los  Angeles  and  Monterey,  Cal. 


examiner-in-chief,  all  of  Brooklyn,  and  Daniel  A. 
Boone.  In  another  carriage  were  from  the  supreme 
council  of  Brooklyn,  John  Rooney,  Thomas  H. 
York,  Thomas  Cassin,  and  Robert  Myham.  In 
another  carriage  were  Father  M.  P.  O’Connor  and 
Dr.  J.  B.  Richmond,  of  New  Jersey,  Judge  Frank 
McKenna,  of  Queens  county,  Long  Island,  and 
James  H.  Breen,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  In  another 
carriage  were  the  state  council  of  New  Jersey, 
Alfred  V.  Harding,  president;  P.  W.  Connelly, 
vice-president;  Thomas  Gallagher,  and  James 
Hart.  Dubois  Council,  of  New  York,  C.  B.  L. , 
Ed.  Fagan,  marshal ; 350  men.  Catholic  Benevo- 
lent Legion,  from  New  Jersey,  marshalled  by  A.V. 
Harding;  200  men.  It  was  represented  by  two 
councils,  St.  Peter’s  and  Royer’s,  from  Brunswick, 
two  others  from  Elizabeth ; Father  Kelly  Council, 
from  Bergen  Point;  two  councils  from  Newark, 
one  from  Greenville  county.  Connecticut  was 
represented  by  Mr.  Martin  Kane,  whose 
council  is  No.  44  C.  B.  L.  Concord  Coun- 
cil, 50  men  ; Wm.  H.  Martin,  marshal,  of 
Brooklyn.  Mr.  Edward  McKenny  repre- 


E.  Boyd,  W.  H.  Landvoight,  of  Washing- 
ton; Major  E.  Mallett,  of  Washington;  I). 

Connell,  of  Washington;  J.  B.  Boyle,  of 
Westminster;  Charles  J.  Landers,  Tunis 

F.  Dean,  John  T.  Brady,  John  T.  Moylan,  B.  F. 
Shriver,  C.  C.  Shriver,  Colonel  J.  Lyle  Clark, 
Parry  Lee  Downs,  James  J.  McKenna,  James  J. 
McCabe,  Colonel  F.  W.  Kerchner,  of  North  Caro- 
lina; A.  J.  Walter,  M.  Reddington,  James  P. 
Rock,  Samuel  White,  Edward  Kearney. 

Following  are  the  eleven  divisions  in  detail : 

The  first  division  was  composed  of  the  Young 
Catholics’  Friend  Society.  The  Catholic  Benevo- 
lent Legion,  the  representatives  of  the  supreme 
council  of  the  Legion  of  Brooklyn  and  the  differ- 
ent state  councils,  were  in  this  division,  in  open 
hacks.  Darby  Mahon  was  marshal.  It  was  headed 
by  the  Fifth  Regiment  band.  The  organizations 
were : The  Naval  Academy  band,  and  then  four 
members  of  the  supreme  council  of  the  legion,  in 
an  open  carriage.  They  were,  John  C.  McGuire, 
supreme  president ; Patrick  F.  Kearny,  supreme 
vice-president;  Dr.  George  R.  Kuhn,  medical 


Most  Rev.  Patrick  W.  Riordan,  D.  D., 
Archbishop  of  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


Rt.  Rev.  Eugene  O’Connell,  D.  D. 
Resigned  See  of  Sacramento,  Cal. 


sented  Union  Council,  C.  B.  L. , from 
Brooklyn.  Maryland  Council,  C.  B.  L., 
120  men;  marshalled  by  Dr.  Frank  P. 
Flannery.  Westernport  was  represented 
by  its  council  of  the  C.  B.  L.  It  had  8 men  in  line, 
marshal  J.  J.  Flaharty.  Father  Myers  Council,  C. 
B.  L. , 120  men;  marshalled  by  Chas.  F.  Evans. 
St.  Martin’s  Council,  C.  B.  L.,  50  men;  L.  M. 
Walshe,  marshal.  Carroll  Council,  C.  B.  L. , 90 
men;  John  M.  Thelen,  marshal.  The  president 
of  the  Maryland  State  Council,  Dr.  S.  A.  Keene, 
was  also  in  a barouche.  The  Young  Catholics’ 
Friend  Society  of  St.  Andrew’s,  50  men.  The 
Young  Catholics’  Friend  Society  of  the  cathedral, 
150  men.  The  Y.  C.  F. ’s  from  the  church  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  40  men;  Jacob  Hegeman. 
Moranville  Council,  No.  21,  C.  B.  L.,  157  men; 
M.  T.  Moore,  marshal.  Kenrick  Council,  C.  B.  L. , 
85  men.  St.  Gregory’s  Council,  C.  B.  L. , 60 
men;  M.  C.  Gunning,  marshal.  St.  Paul’s  Coun- 
cil, C.  B.  L.,  100  men;  Wm.  Cooney,  marshal. 
Wm.  Kennedy  Council,  C.  B.  L. , 35  men.  Baily 
Council,  C.  B.  L.,  40  men.  A delegation  from 


Rt.  Rev.  P.  Manogue,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Sacramento,  Cal. 


Ri.  Rev.  Lawrence  Scanlan,  D.  D., 
Vicar- Apostolic  of  Utah. 


io8 


THE  BALTIMORE  EES  TI VI  TIES. 


Ellicott  City,  of  50  men.  Nearly  all  these  men  carried  large  Chinese 
lanterns,  and  in  the  hacks  were  men  who  set  off  red  lights  as  they  went 
along.  There  were  a number  of  transparencies  in  the  line,  with 
Catholic  mottoes. 

The  second  division  was  composed  of  visiting  societies  from 
Washington,  Frederick,  Westminister,  Gettysburg,  Hanover,  Hagers- 
town, Havre-de-Grace,  and  other  towns  in  Maryland.  Edward  J. 
Hannon  was  marshal.  It  was  headed  by  the  Marine  band,  of  Wash- 
ington. The  delegations  were : 

The  Catholic  Club  of  Washington,  75  men,  Captain  George  '1‘. 
Harrbin.  They  carried  red,  white,  and  blue  lights.  St.  Dominick’s 
Church,  Washington,  D.  C.,  40  men;  William  A.  Johnson,  marshal. 
Franklin  Literary  Society,  45  men;  Captain  L.  J.  Connell.  St. 
Joseph’s  Church,  Washington,  50  men;  Richard  Carter  anti  H.  Mah- 
ler, marshals.  The  Young  Catholic  Friend’s  Society  of  Washington, 
200;  Ed.  Hannan,  marshal.  A division  from  Georgetown,  75  strong. 
The  St.  John’s  Benevolent  Society  of  Westminster,  60  men;  they 
carried  torches  and  wore  white  oilcloth  capes.  The  Knights  of  St. 
Joseph,  Washington,  in  uniform;  James  Gilchrist,  marshal,  100 
strong.  Emmet  Guards,  of  Washington,  Captain  O’Brien,  46  men. 
The  Hanover  Silver  Cornet  Band,  with  the  St.  Joseph’s  Beneficial 
Association,  from  Hanover,  Pa.,  49  men;  J.  A.  Penant,  marshal. 
Lord  Baltimore  Council,  Joseph  Smith,  marshal;  160  men.  Aquinas 
Council,  C.  B.  L. , C.  B.  Taylor,  marshal;  50  men.  St.  John’s 
I.  C.  B.  U.,  100  men;  E.  J.  Await,  marshal.  A delegation  from  the 
church  of  St.  Charles  of  Borromeo,  Pikesville.  They  had  the  West- 
minster Cornet  Band,  and  wore  white  oilcloth  capes  and  carried 
torches.  The  Knights  of  St.  Ladislas,  45  men;  Joseph  Sileski,  cap- 
tain; with  them  was  the  Grand  Army  Band.  St.  Francis  Xavier’s 
societies,  from  Gettysburg,  100  men;  M.  F.  Power,  chief  marshal. 
In  a carriage  were  V.  Rev.  J.  A.  Boll,  Rev.  Wm.  Burke,  Rev.  A.  M.  Man- 
dalari,  S.  J.,  and  Rev.  T.  J.  Crotty.  The  Young  Men’s  Catholic 
L:nion,  of  Frederick,  20  men;  F.  Start,  marshal;  with  them  was  the 
Yellow  Springs  band.  The  Benevolent  Association,  of  Havre-de- 
Grace,  25  men. 

The  third  division  consisted  of  the  Catholic  Knighthood  o.  Mary- 
land, Wilmington,  Del.,  and  Philadelphia.  Some  of  the  Knights 
marched  with  the  churches  to  which  they  belonged.  The  Knights 
wore  their  uniform,  and  the  lights  were  carried  by  small  boys  and 
colored  men.  The  division  was  headed  by  the  Ivanhoe  band  of 
Canton.  Knights  of  St.  Lawrence,  of  Wilmington.  Del.  With  them 
was  the  Wilmington  Grey  band,  of  Philadelphia.  A delegation  from 
the  Catholic  Temperance  Association  of  Philadelphia.  The  chief 
marshal  was  John  A.  Daly,  Jr.  In  Lhis  delegation  were  the  Cathedral 
Temperance  Society,  48  men,  Captain  George  Fitzgerald ; the 
Society  of  our  Mother  of  Sorrows,  20  men,  Frank  McGuire ; the 
St.  Paul’s  Temperance  Society,  25  men,  Captain  McClusky.  They 
had  the  Metropolitan  band,  of  Philadelphia.  These  boys  carried 
axes  and  wore  a pretty,  tasty  uniform.  During  the  march  they  did 
some  very  good  maneuvering,  which  was  applauded  by  the  crowd. 
The  Knights  from  Philadelphia  were  the  Knights  of  the  Cathedral, 
125  men,  Captain  John  Sullivan;  Knights  of  St.  Thomas,  20  men,  Cap- 
tain Ed.  Kelly;  Knights  of  St.  Elizabeth,  25  men,  Captain  Michael 
McIntyre;  St.  Patrick’s  Pioneer  Corps,  25  men,  M.  J.  Bergen; 
Knights  of  St.  Aloysius,  93  men,  James  Flynn,  captain  : Knights  of 
St.  Vincent,  250  men,  Captain  A.  E.  Stewart  ; Knights  of  St. 
Joseph,  90  men,  Captain  D.  J.  Brandy;  St.  Lawrence  Temperance 
Cadets,  30  boys.  These  youngsters  wore  a Zouave  suit  and  carried 
torches.  Knights  of  St.  Augustine,  of  Washington,  90  men;  Robert 
Jenkins,  commander.  Knights  of  St.  Augustine,  of  Baltimore,  30 
men;  P.  T.  Neil,  captain.  St.  Mary’s  Institute,  40  men. 

The  fourth  division  was  composed  of  students  from  the  lyceums 
and  Catholic  schools,  John  C.  Fallon,  marshal.  His  aides  were  Frank 
V.  Zeller,  Harry  C.  Frank,  Bernard  A.  Rodge.  Calvert  Alumni 
Association,  sixty  men;  Edward  J.  McCann,  marshal.  They  were 
accompanied  by  the  Catholic  Protectory  Band,  of  New  York;  Man- 


hattan College,  New  York,  60  tads,  Fred  Buckley,  marshal  ; Calvert 
Hall  Cavalry,  H.  Heenan,  marshal  ; Calvert  Hall,  150  boys,  Walter 
McClennan,  marshal.  These  boys  wore  red  caps  and  sashes.  Rock 
Hill  College  was  represented  by  three  wagons  with  students.  They 
had  also  7 mounted  Knights.  La  Salle  College,  of  Philadelphia, 
150  young  men.  In  a carriage  were  Brother  Romuald,  of  St.  Louis; 
Brother  Aphraates,  of  Quebec;  Brother  Julius,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
Brother  Abraham,  of  La  Salle.  St.  Peter’s  school,  135  boys.  Tem- 
perance cadets  of  St.  Peter’s  school,  25  boys.  St.  Vincent’s  school, 
75  boys.  St.  John’s  school,  no  boys;  Brother  Michael  in  charge. 
Immaculate  Conception  school,  500  boys.  St.  Lawrence  lyceum, 
60  men;  Captain  P.  J.  Tuohy.  St.  Pius’  lyceum,  75  men;  Edward 
C.  Winters,  marshal.  They  made  a very  pretty  appearance,  and 
caught  a lot  of  applause  with  their  bright  red,  white,  and  blue  umbrel- 
las. St.  Patrick’s  lyceum,  120  men;  M.  Kennedy,  marshal.  St. 
Mary’s  Star  of  the  Sea  lyceum,  75  men;  D.  A.  M’Laughlin,  marshal. 
St.  Joseph’s  Literary  Association,  75  men;  Morris  Martin,  marshal. 
St.  Martin’s  institute,  50  men;  T.  H.  Rainey,  marshal;  lieutenant,  Wm. 
O’Callahan.  St.  Joseph’s  institute,  125  men;  Samuel  Wright,  marshal. 
St.  Patrick’s  Beneficial  Association;  Edward  Flaherty,  marshal. 

The  fifth  division  was  composed  of  the  parishes  representing 
the  various  churches;  John  J.  McCartney,  marshal.  St.  Peter’s 
parish,  200  men;  B.  A.  O’Brien,  marshal.  St.  Martin’s  parish,  250 
men;  J.  David  Wheeler,  marshal.  They  had  a very  beautiful  float, 
displaying  portraits  of  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Archbishop  Carroll,  and 
Bishop  Foley.  The  parish  of  the  Fourteen  Holy  Martyrs,  600  men; 
Henry  Miller,  marshal.  They  had  a float  in  which  were  fourteen 
children  attired  to  represent  the  Fourteen  Holy  Martyrs.  St.  Peter 
Claver,  30  men,  who  showed  a transparency  disclosing  a rising  sun, 
with  the  inscription,  “We  are  Rising.”  Knights  of  St.  Adelbert,  33 
men.  Church  of  St.  Stanislaus,  1,100  men. 

The  sixth  division  under  Marshal  Patrick  Martin,  with  aides  on 
horseback,  consisted  of  the  League  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  600  men;  St. 
Ignatius’  Society,  150  men,  in  uniform;  societies  from  St.  Thomas, 
Corpus  Christi,  St.  Ann’s  Beneficial  Society,  St.  Francis  Xavier  (col- 
ored) Society,  and  societies  from  St.  Mary’s  Church;  St.  Francis 
Towson;  St.  Joseph,  Texas,  Baltimore  county;  in  all  2,000  men. 

The  seventh  division  was  made  up  of  3,000  men  from  St.  John’s 
St.  James’,  St.  Paul’s,  St.  Andrew’s,  St.  Joseph’s,  on  the  Belair  road, 
and  St.  Stephen’s,  of  Bradshaw,  Baltimore  county.  There  were 
2,000  men  in  line,  all  in  uniform,  under  Hugh  A.  Brady. 

The  eighth  division  was  made  up  of  about  2,000  persons.  These 
were  St.  Alphonsus’  cadets  in  zouave  uniforms,  with  guns  and  scab 
bards;  St.  Alphonsus’  Literary  Association;  St.  Alphonsus’  male  school, 
headed  by  the  clergy  and  brothers  in  carriages;  the  survivors,  about 
20  in  all,  of  St.  Boniface  society,  of  St.  Alphonsus,  which  was 
founded  in  1837;  Father  Alexander  Council,  No.  41,  C.  B.  L.,  of  St. 
Alphonsus’,  in  street  dress,  followed  by  the  Knights  of  St.  Alphonsus, 
on  horseback.  Then  came  St.  Vincent’s  lyceum,  with  pretty  Chinese 
lanterns,  300  men;  orphans  of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  orphan  asylum,  in 
a wagon,  and  30  St.  James’  Home  boys,  bearing  a banner,  on  which 
was  inscribed,  “The  Cardinal’s  Boys”;  St.  Vincent  de  Paul  Society, 
250  men,  with  30  of  the  older  members  of  the  society  in  carriages; 
St.  Leo’s  parish  members,  with  torches,  and  St.  Leo’s  school  boys, 
who  wore  red  caps  and  carried  lanterns;  300  in  all  brought  up  the  rear. 

The  ninth  division  was  in  charge  of  L.  J.  Ripple  and  staff,  on 
horseback.  The  Knights  of  the  Holy  Cross,  in  full  uniform  of  black 
and  gold,  200  men,  headed  the  societies.  Immediately  behind  them 
was  a large  float  which  represented  the  painting  of  “simply  to  the 
Cross  I Cling.”  The  young  lady  was  attired  in  white,  and  her  attitude 
was  particularly  striking  and  true  to  the  representation.  St.  Mary’s 
Star  of  the  Sea  Beneficial  Society,  with  100  men  in  plain  dress,  fol- 
lowed. St.  Francis  Xavier  (colored)  Society  brought  up  the  rear,  with 
150  men  in  line,  in  full  regal i 

The  tenth  division  was  one  of  the  best  of  all.  It  was  in  charge  of 
Patrick  O’Brien,  with  mounted  aids.  The  Emerald  Beneficial  Society, 


log 


Rt.  Rev.  Maria  Benedict, 
Abbot  of  Our  Lady  of  La  Trappe, 
Gethsemani,  Ky. 


Rt.  Rev.  F.  Conrad,  0.  S.  B., 
Abbot  of  New  Engelberg, 
Conception,  Mo. 


Rt.  Rev.  A.  Hintenach,  O.  S.  B., 
Arch-abbot  of  St.  Vincent’s,  Westmoreland  Co.,  Pa. 


Rt.  Rev.  H.  Pfraengle,  O.  S.  B., 
Abbot  of  St-  Mary’s,  Newark,  N.  J 


Rt.  Rev.  Innocent  Wqlf,  O.  S.  B., 
Abbot  of  St.  Benedict’s,  Atchison,  Kan. 


I IO 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


50  men  and  a band,  of  St.  Jerome’s  church,  headed  the  line,  followed 
by  St.  Gregory’s  branch  of  the  association,  and  branches  from  Dela- 
ware, New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York,  in  all  about  1,500 
men.  They  carried  Chinese  lanterns  and  torches,  and  wore  no  uni- 
forms. 

The  eleventh  and  last  division  was  the  longest  of  all,  and 
it  was  estimated  that  4,500  men  marched  in  line.  They  had  pretty 
nearly  that  number.  St.  Patrick’s  parish  came  first.  The  Knights 
of  the  Holy  Cross,  in  full  uniform,  numbering  about  seventy-five 
men  in  all,  came  first.  They  were  followed  by  St.  Patrick's  male 
school  boys,  who  carried  torches  and  wore  red  caps  and  cardinal 
capes.  There  were  300  in  all.  St.  Joseph’s  School  came  next,  with 
60  boys,  with  torches,  red  caps,  and  white  capes.  Then  came  the 
Emerald  beneficial  Association  of  St.  Patrick’s  church,  200  men,  with 
lanterns  and  torches,  and  they  made  a fine  turnout.  St.  Michael’s 
parish  was  represented  by  the  Knights  of  St.  Michael,  in  uniform.  An 
advance  guard  of  knights  were  on  horseback.  They  were  followed  by 
a large  float,  which  bore  the  figure  of  St.  Michael  in  gigantic  propor- 
tions in  the  act  of  casting  his  satanic  majesty  into  eternal  torment. 
The  evil  one  and  his  imps  were  represented  by  young  men  in  red  and 
green  suits  with  the  necessary  horns,  red  fire,  etc.  Then  followed  200 
knights  in  uniform  with  silver  helmets.  St.  Michael’s  Society  and  St. 
Alphonsus’  lyceum,  in  all  about  800  men,  followed  the  knights.  The 
consolidated  St.  Michael’s  Beneficial  Society,  consisting  of  200  men, 
carried  torches  and  lanterns.  Chesapeake  Council,  C.  B.  L.,  200 
men,  also  carried  light  boxes.  Wagons,  bearing  calcium  lights,  which 
lighted  up  the  line  in  advance,  followed.  Then  came  the  Knights  of 
St.  Wenceslaus,  in  uniform,  100  men,  and  the  Knights  of  St.  Joshua, 
also  in  uniform,  200  men.  The  Knights  of  St.  Francis,  35  men; 
Sacred  Heart  Beneficial  Society,  85  men,  and  Providence  Council,  C. 
B.  L.,  about  50  men,  in  carriages,  and  the  Sacred  Heart  cachets, 
headed  by  a band,  and  St.  Joseph’s  Society,  75  men,  represented  the 
church  of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  Highlandtown.  The  Knights  of  the 
Holy  Rosary  church,  50  men  and  too  school  boys,  with  red  caps  and 
torches,  and  St.  Cozine’s  Beneficial  Society,  150  men,  represented  the 
Holy  Rosary  church.  The  societies  .of  St.  John  the  Baptist  church, 
in  plain  dress,  with  torches  and  lanterns,  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  line. 

BALTIMORE  DAY. 

Thursday,  November  14,  was  spent  by  prelates  and  delegates 
to  the  congress  in  seeing  Baltimore  and  some  of  its  institu- 
tions. In  tally-ho  coaches,  ’busses,  and  barouches  under  the  guid- 
ance of  a committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  R.  II.  Goldsmith, 
M.  D.,  lion.  William  J.  O’Brien,  James  R.  Wheeler,  Dr.  Charles  G. 
Grindall,  Robert  Biggs,  T.  Foley  Hiskey,  and  Dennis  Noble,  with  Sam 
Kranes  as  bugler,  they  were  driven  up  Eutaw  street  to  Baltimore, 
to  Charles,  past  Cardinal  Gibbons’  residence,  where  they  were 
reviewed  by  His  Eminence  and  Archbishop  Satolli,  around  the 
Washington  monument,  to  Madison  street,  to  North  avenue,  to 
Liberty  road,  to  College  avenue,  to  the  New  Epiphany  Apostolic 
College  for  colored  men  at  Highland  Park,  thence  to  St.  Mary’s 
industrial  school,  where  dinner  was  served,  and  afterwards  to  the 
city  hall.  At  St.  Mary’s  industrial  school  Mayor-elect  Robert  C. 
Davidson  said: 

From  such  short  observation  as  I have  been  able  to  make 
to-day,  I think  the  city  and  state  can  but  do  justice  when  the  due 
meed  of  praise  is  awarded  to  the  efficient  board  of  trustees  for  the 
apparent  careful  supervision  which  this  institution  has  received  and  is 
receiving  at  the  hands  of  its  members.  The  self-sacrificing  spirit  of 
the  Xaverian  Brothers  will  live  and  wield  an  influence  long  after  they 
have  been  called  to  render  up  an  account  of  their  stewardship.  All 
honor  to  the  men  who  are  willing  to  sacrifice  earthly  ambition  with 
the  end  in  view  of  being  instrumental  in  preparing  jewels  for  the  set- 
ting of  the  Redeemer’s  crown. 

I also  appreciate  the  honor  of  an  invitation  to  be  present  upon 
this  occasion  and  to  meet  so  many  of  the  representatives  of  the  au- 
thority, religion,  and  intellige-nce'of  the  Catholic  Church.  We  wel- 


come them  cordially  to  the  hospitalities  of  this  city  of  Baltimore,  in  a 
state  which  has  so  much  reason  to  feel  grateful  for  the  liberality  of 
sentiment  of  the  early  members  of  that  communion  within  it. 

From  the  dark  period  of  revolutionary  days  to  the  present  hour 
many  of  our  best  and  most  highly  esteemed  citizens,  those  most  pene- 
trated by  the  love  of  their  country  and  inspired  by  unselfish  devotion 
to  its  interests  have  been  found  in  your  church,  and  we  recognize  in 
His  Eminence,  your  cardinal,  not  only  a churchman,  but  a liberal- 
minded  and  patriotic  American  citizen — honored  and  respected  for 
his  estimable  qualities  by  all  right-thinking  persons. 

Again  we  welcome  you  to  this  beautiful  city  and  state,  where 
not  only  the  principles  of  toleration  are  enunciated,  but  where  men  of 
every  nation  enjoy  soul  liberty  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  their  own  conscience,  with  none  to  make  them  afraid,  pro- 
tected by  a constitution  and  wholesome  laws  which  insure  those  inal- 
ienable rights. 

Archbishop  Gross  also  made  a few  remarks. 

At  Epiphany  College  brief  talks  were  made  by  Father  Slattery, 
and  Mr.  Henry  J.  Spaunhorst,  of  St  Louis;  and  Archbishop  Cleary 
said : 

All  the  institutions  of  Baltimore  are  a credit  to  her,  and  I am 
glad  to  find  among  them  such  a one  as  this.  All  of  them  tend  to 
advance  the  cause  of  religion  and  morality,  as  well  as  culture  and  learn- 
ing, and  this  one  is  a sacrament  to  the  whole.  I am  sure  the  young 
men  whom  I see  before  me  are  consecrated  to  the  work,  and  are  will- 
ing to  sacrifice  their  ambitions  and  even  their  health  for  the  good  of 
their  fellow-men.  They  are  worthy  of  the  highest  commendation. 
The  great  labors  they  will  be  called  upon  to  perform  will  be  more 
than  the  ordinary  vocation  of  a priest.  To  go  away  from  home  and 
friends  into  the  Jiomes  of  people  who  lately  were  slaves,  and  whose 
homes  are  those  of  poverty,  requires  a courage  that  is  given  of  God. 
It  will  be  no  life  of  ease ; toil,  hardships,  and  danger  will  surround 
you,  but  all  these,  everything  you  endure  for  his  sake,  will  exalt  your 
labor,  and  will  exalt  you  in  the  sight  of  God.  The  calling  and  the 
work  is  an  honor  to  you;  so  prepare  yourselves  carefully  that  you 
may  rightfully  accept  its  great  responsibilities.  Keep  the  one  purpose 
of  serving  God  in  serving  your  fellow-man  before  you.  I have  often 
seen  a young  man  start  out  with  the  full  vigor  of  a young  life,  with  the 
fire  of  the  Spirit  burning  in  his  veins,  and  with  such  love  for  his  work 
that  he  would  willingly  die  for  it.  I have  seen  that  vigor  exhausted, 
that  spirit  cooled,  and  even  his  work  he  loved  so  well  abandoned. 
Think  well  upon  the  course  you  are  to  pursue  and  the  sacrifices  you 
are  to  make.  If  you  start  in  keep  the  sacrifices  made  for  you  con- 
stantly before  you.  Remember  the  sacrifices  of  Ghrist,  that  of  the 
sainted  martyrs,  and  those  of  the  early  confessors.  Keep  the  fires  of 
sacrifice  alive  within  you,  fortify  yourselves  by  prayer,  remember 
your  vocation,  remember  the  people  you  are  to  serve,  and  remember 
that  every  sacrifice  you  make  is  a sacrifice  to  God. 

THE  MAYOR’S  RECEPTION.  ' 

The  visitors  were  presented  at  the  city  hall  by  Golonel  William 
H.  Love  and  Clerk  Brownley  to  Mayor  Latrobe,  Cardinal  Gibbons, 
and  Bishop  Virtue.  During  the  reception  letters  were  read  from 
Governor  Fitzhugh  Lee,  of  Virginia;  Mayor  Fitter,  of  Philadelphia; 
the  mayor  of  Boston,  Mr.  George  C.  Wilkins;  and  Mayor  Cregier,  of 
Chicago,  and  afterwards  a number  of  those  present  registered  their 
names  in  the  library.  Among  the  Baltimoreans  who  met  the  prelates 
were  Messrs.  Enoch  Pratt  and  James  Sloan,  Jr.,  city  finance  commis- 
sioners; D.  J.  Foley,  brother  of  Bishop  Foley;  Hon.  A.  Leo  Knott, 
Colonel  Albert  Ritchie,  ex-Mayor  Banks,  General  J.  B.  Stafford, 
Meyer  Stein,  A.  Gottschalk,  Arthur  Milholland,  President  Charles  F. 
Mayer,  of  the  Baltimore  & Ohio  railroad,  Colonel  N.  S.  Hill,  German 
H.  Hunt,  Thomas  K.  McCormick,  Dr.  J.  A.  Steuart,  Dr.  J.  F. 
McShane,  Captain  A.  E.  Smyrk,  D.  L.  Bartlett,  Gilmore  Meredith, 
Dr.  L.  A.  Monmonier,  Dr.  Rohe,  Dr.  D.  F.  Pennington,  Captain  J. 
F.  Supplee,  W.  T.  Dixon,  John  S.  Bullock,  Captain  Thomas  Baldwin, 
Rev.  W.  S.  Edwards,  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  Rev.  W.  U.  Murkland, 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  E.  G.  Hipsley,  Judges  Fusselbaugh, 
Chaisty,  and  Joyce,  of  the  appeal  tax  court,  J.  N.  Bowen,  Rev. 
Lewis  De  Lew,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Edward  Jen- 
kins, City  Councilmen  Maloney  and  Kemp,  John  T.  Morris,  Michael 
H.  Doyle,  John  D.  Cook,  John  M.  Travers,  Andrew  J.  King, 
James  H.  Horner,  John  A.  Robb,  J.  Sewell  Thomas,  Charles  M. 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


i r i 


Gordon,  Charles  P.  Kahler,  Samuel  F.  Sharretts,  B.  E.  Smith,  Pro- 
fessor Henry  A.  Wise,  H.  M.  Cowles,  Thomas  G.  Carroll,  Colonel 
Louis  Strasburger,  Colonel  F.  P.  Stevens,  Ichabod  Jean,  A.  C.  N. 
Matthews,  Martin  Hussey,  J.  A.  Daiger,  Wm.  B.  Price,  Dr.  J.  H.  But- 
ler, Michael  Jenkins,  Dr.  J.  H.  Goldsmith,  W.  J.  O’Brien,  James 
Donnelly,  Benjamin  G.  Harris,  James  S.  Morrow,  E.  V.  Hermange, 
C.  K.  Lord,  John  Hagerty,  of  Cincinnati,  Ernest  Knabe,  G.  F.  Gib- 
ney,  Thomas  McNulty,  George  A.  Blake. 

OTHER  ENTERTAINMENTS. 

Here  are  some  of  the  many  other  entertainments  of  the  visitors: 
Monday  evening  Mr.  D.  S.  Foley,  brother  of  Bishop  Foley,  gave  a 
dinner  in  his  honor  at  his  residence,  No.  706  Park  avenue.  Among 
those  present  were  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Cardinal  Taschereau,  Archbish- 
ops Satolli,  O’Brien,  and  Riordan,  Bishops  Foley  and  Virtue,  Mgri. 
Farley  and  O’Connell,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Howlett  and  Rev.  Daniel 
Riordan. 

DINNER  TO  DETROIT  DELEGATES. 

Thursday  night  the  Detroit  delegation  to  the  congress  was  enter- 
tained at  Hotel  Rennert  by  the  delegation  of  Baltimoreans  who 
accompanied  Bishop  Foley  to  Detroit  upon  his  assuming  charge  of  his 
diocese.  The  guests  were  the  Right  Rev.  John  S.  Foley,  D.  D., 
Bishop  of  Detroit;  Jeremiah  Dwyer,  Frank  Dwyer,  Richard  Storrs 
Willis,  William  Yates  Hamlin,  John  A.  Russell,  John  Miner,  Charles 
S.  McDonald,  James  H.  Vhay,  Thomas  J.  Paxton,  Francis  F.  Palms, 
M.  W.  O’Brien,  John  C.  Donnelly,  R.  R.  Elliott,  Alexander  Chapo- 
ton,  Jr.,  James  J.  Keenan,  Thomas  J.  Reilly,  J.  Emmet  Sullivan, 
John  V.  Moran,  James  T.  Keena,  Paul  Rabaut,  S.  A.  V.  Blake,  W. 
H.  Hughes,  Rev.  M.  J.  Dowling,  H.  F.  Brownson,  and  Rev.  M.  J.  P. 
Dempsey,  of  Detroit;  J.  F.  McCabe  and  Wm.  V.  McKinley,  of 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  Rev.  P.  Cronin,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  Those  who 
acted  as  hosts  were:  Rev.  T.  J.  Broydrick,  of  St.  Martin’s  church;  G. 
Frank  Gibney,  William  J.  Carroll,  Andrew  Stump,  John  S.  Cum- 
mings, M.  A.  Mullin,  B.  E.  Smith,  John  P.  O’Ferrall,  Thomas  Foley 
Hiskey,  J.  J.  Wheeler,  James  R.  Wheeler,  Charles  W.  Adams,  James 
Carrall,  John  T.  Morris,  F.  K.  Cameron,  A.  K.  Shriver,  Charles  W. 
Heuisler,  Thomas  J.  Foley  and  T.  Herbert  Shriver. 

MAJOR  HILL’S  DINNER. 

The  same  evening  Major  N.  S.  Hill  entertained  at  dinner  at  his 
home,  No.  813  North  Charles  street,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Archbishops 
Williams,  Elder,  and  Gross,  Bishops  Virtue  and  Gillo,  Mayor  Latrobe, 
ex-Mayor  James  Hodges,  E.  Frank  Riggs,  of  Washington,  D.  C., 
ex-Judge  William  A.  Fisher,  and  Charles  F.  Mayer,  president  of  the 
Baltimore  & Ohio  railroad,  and  at  St.  James  hall  a reception  was 
given  Bishops  Bonacum,  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  Richter,  of  Grand  Rapids, 
Mich.,  and  Katzer,  of  Green  Bay,  Wis. 

CATHOLIC  EDITORS’  ASSOCIATION. 

Sunday  afternoon,  November  10,  the  editors  of  the  Catholic  press 
organized  at  the  Hotel  Rennert,  with  Rev.  F.W.  Graham,  of  the  Catholic 
Tribune,  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  chairman,  and  Conde  B.  Fallen,  of  the 
Church  Progress,  of  St.  Louis,  secretary.  Hon.  William  J.  O’Brien, 
of  the  Catholic  Mirror,  of  Baltimore,  called  the  meeting  to  order,  and 
among  the  others  present  were:  J.  R.  Randall,  of  The  Chimes,  Balti- 
more; Patrick  Donahoe,  of  Donahoe’s  Magazine,  Boston;  John 
Gilmary  Shea,  of  the  New  York  Catholic  News;  Wm.  Fitzgerald, 
Catholic  Journal,  Memphis;  John  O’Flanigan,  Kansas  Catholic,  of 
Leavenworth;  M.  I.  Griffin,  I.  C.  B.  U.  Journal,  Philadelphia;  John 
E.  Scanlan,  Connecticut  Catholic,  of  Hartford;  Fred  B.  Sharon,  Iowa 
Catholic  Messenger,  Davenport;  Milton  E.  Smith,  Church  News, 
Washington;  John  H.  Burke,  Catholic  Home,  Chicago;  Rev.  James 
Nugent,  Catholic  Times,  Liverpool,  England;  Daniel  A.  Rudd, 
American  Catholic  Tribune,  Cincinnati;  John  R.  Rudd,  same;  John 
A.  Bedel,  Poor  Soul’s  Advocate,  Evansville,  Ind. ; Rev.  Patrick  Cronin, 
Catholic  Union  and  Times,  Buffalo;  Austin  E.  Ford,  Freeman’s 


Journal,  New  York,  Wm.  H.  Hughes,  Michigan  Catholic,  Detroit; 
Robert  E.  Ford,  Freeman’s  Journal,  New  York;  J.  H.  Conroy, 
Ogdensburg  Courier,  Ogdensburg;  F.  T.  Furey,  Catholic  Standard, 
Philadelphia;  Frank  McGloin,  Holy  Family,  New  Orleans,  and  John 
A.  Kuster,  Catholic  Columbian,  Columbus,  Ohio. 

It  was  determined  to  hold  at  Cincinnati  on  the  first  Wednes- 
day of  May,  1890,  a general  convention  of  the  Catholic  press 
representatives. 

BROWNSON  MEMORIAL  COMMITTEE. 

Monday  afternoon  the  Brownson  Memorial  Committee  held  a 
meeting  at  Maryland  hall,  and  took  further  steps  to  raise  funds  for 
the  monument  in  the  New  York  Central  Park  to  Orestes  Augustus 
Brownson,  L.  L.  D.,  the  well  known  Catholic  publicist  and  states- 
man. The  trustees  of  the  fund  are:  Cardinal  Gibbons,  chairman. 
Archbishop  Corrigan,  of  New  York;  Archbishop  Williams,  of  Boston  : 
Bishop  Gilmour,  of  Cleveland;  Bishop  McQuaid,  of  Rochester;  an  1 
Mgr.  Doane,  of  Newark. 

JESUIT  ALUMNI. 

Graduates  of  Jesuit  colleges  met  at  Loyola  College  and  formed  an 
association,  with  Mr.  John  A.  Mooney,  of  New  York,  chairman,  and 
Mr.  Conde  B.  Fallen,  of  St.  Louis,  secretary.  Among  those  present 
were:  Rt.  Rev.  W.  M.  Wigger,  bishop  of  Newark;  V.  Rev.  Thomas 
J.  Campbell,  the  Jesuit  provincial  of  the  Maryland  province;  Rev. 
Dr.  Charles  E.  McDonnell,  Archbishop  Corrigan’s  secretary;  General 
M.  T.  McMahon,  United  States  marshal  at  New  York;  Judge  Morgan 
J.  O’Brien,  of  New  York;  Judge  Joseph  D.  Fallen,  of  Worcester, 
Mass.;  Dr.  Thomas  Hart,  of  Cincinnati;  Rev.  John  A.  Cull,  Santa 
Clara,  Cal,;  Premier  Honore  Mercier,  of  St.  Mary’s  College,  Montreal, 
Can.  ; the  vice-president  of  the  Seminary  San  Luis  Potosi,  Mexico, 
an  alumnus  of  Stonyhurst,  England;  J.  J.  Lynch,  of  Springhill  College, 
Ala.;  Jos.  M.  Gleason,  of  St.  Ignatius  College,  San  Francisco;  Michael 
A.  Mullin,  of  Loyola  College,  Baltimore;  Rev.  Frank  Smith,  rector  of 
Loyola  College ; J.  B.  Fisher,  of  Immaculate  Conception  College,  New 
Orleans,  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Dunn,  Boston  College;  H.  C.  Walsh,  of 
Georgetown. 

AT  WOODSTOCK  COLLEGE. 

A party  of  distinguished  clergymen,  including  Cardinal  Gibbons 
and  Archbishop  Satolli,  visited  the  Jesuit  College  at  Woodstock  on 
Friday,  November  15,  where  they  inspected  the  building  and  grounds, 
listened  to  a theological  discussion  in  Latin  by  the  students,  and  had 
dinner.  The  party  left  Baltimore  shortly  after  eight  o’clock  in  the 
morning  in  the  special  car  “Delaware,”  which  was  attached  to  the  regu- 
lar train.  They  were  met  at  the  station  by  a number  of  the  faculty 
and  driven  to  the  college  in  carriages  and  almost  immediately  taken  to 
the  library  hall,  where  Father  de  la  Motte  defended  a series  of  prop- 
ositions in  theology,  taken  from  the  treatise  on  “Grace,”  against 
Messrs.  De  Potter  and  Clark,  who  were  appointed  to  make  such 
objections  as  they  were  able  to  the  propositions.  Archbishop  Satolli, 
who  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  theologians  in  the  church,  took 
particular  interest  in  the  discussion.  He  differed  somewhat  from  the 
propositions,  and  stated  his  objections,  which  were  answered  so  satis- 
factorily that  Archbishop  Satolli  applauded.  At  the  close  of  the  dis- 
cussion the  Rev.  Mr.  Casey  defended  a series  of  eight  propositions 
from  the  treatise  on  “Sacraments  in  General,”  against  objections  pro- 
posed by  Father  Thomas  Sherman  and  Mr.  Wynne.  Archbishop 
Satolli  took  part  in  this  discussion  also,  but  did  not  confuse  the 
defender  of  the  propositions.  At  the  close  the  archbishop  made  a 
speech  in  Latin,  telling  the  students  how  much  he  enjoyed  the  dis- 
cussion, which  he  had  come  especially  to  hear.  The  discussions 
were  the  regular  ones  which  are  held  at  the  college  two  or  three  times 
a year.  The  discussions  are  always  in  Latin.  The  party  returned  to 
Baltimore  after  dinner.  Among  the  visitors  were  Mgr.  O'Connell, 


I 12 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


rector  of  the  American  College  of  Rome;  the  Rev.  Dr.  Howlett, 
Archbishop  Satolli’s  secretary;  Archbishop  Elder,  of  Cincinnati; 
Rev.  Francis  A.  Smith,  Rev.  Francis  Ryan  and  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Tynan, 
of  Loyola  College;  Father  Campbell,  provincial  of  the  Jesuits  ; Arch- 
bishop Cleary,  of  Kingston,  Ont.  ; Bishop  Gillo,  of  Oaxaca, 
Mexico;  V.  Rev.  J.  Adam,  vicar  general  of  Los  Angeles;  Bishop  Burke, 
of  Cheyenne;  Rev.  O.  B.  Corrigan,  of  St.  Gregory’s  church;  Rev. 
Dr.  Chapelle,  of  St.  Matthew’s  church,  Washington,  and  Mr.  Robert 
A.  Jamison. 

The  following  poems  were  read: 

RAMUS  OLlViE. 

Gentis  Americas  decus,  O ecclesia  sancta 
Quid  poterit  vates  asquiparare  tibi? 

Fingere  nil  poterit  specie  formosius  ilia 
Quam  Dominus  quondam  protulit  ipse  tuus. 

“Utgranum  minimum”  terris  immissa  fuisti, 

Nunc  es  facta  arbos  condecorata  comis, 

Et  volucres  cceli  veniunt  habitantque  sub  umbra 
Quam  late  fundunt  brachia  sacra  tua. 


Roma  dedit  granum  terns,  fovitque  tenellum; 

Temporibus  duris  Roma  ferebat  opes; 

Hoc  oriente  die  centum  qui  clauserit  annos, 
Roma  venit  visum  qua  Deus  ediderit. 
Advenit  ut  plaudat  fortunam  temporis  acti, 
Ominibusque  bonis  asva  futura  sacret; 
Advenit  ut  referatquo  servet  amore  virentem 
Natam  qua  degit  fluctibus  hesperiis. 


Christiadum  vero  qua  cingit  gloria  gentem 
In  terris  nostris  non  ibi  semper  erat, 

In  prolis  facie  nos  cernimus  ora  parentis; 

Roina  decus  rapuit  de  cruciante  manu. 

Imperio  similis  quocum  certavit,  ab  ipso 
Ferro  relligio  pristina  duxit  opes, 

Per  falcem  florens,  ut  pinus  tonsa  bipenni 
Altior  evadit  finnior  atque  viget. 

Nostra  nec  obtinuit  diversam  ecclesia  sortem, 
Tristitiam  novit  cum  juvenilis  erat. 

Sed  formam  tenuem  firmabat  loeta  juventus, 
Maternusque  vigor  membra  replebat  ope. 

In  teneris  etiam  fibris  vcnisque  fluebat 
Succus  qui  vero  palmite  vitis  inest. 

Quo  citius  tandem  virtus  adolesceret  ejus, 
Eximiis  nranibus  credita  parva  fuit.^ 

Vir  dilecte  Dei,  praesul  memorande,  Joannes, 

Tu  nostri  decoris  laetitiasque  parens! 

Te  puerum  video  et  circurn  cunabula  flores 
Suos  fundit  Maris  terra  dicata  tua. 

Inde  tuus  vultus  Roms  spectatur  in  aulis 
Dam  decoras  animum  temporis  exuviis, 

Inde  nigram  vestem  qua  zona  cingitur  atra 
Induis,  et  juras  te  fore  lo)^olidem. — 

Mox  nubes  coeunt,  tristes  oriuntur  et  anni; 

Ante  ubi  risus  erat  sistit  in  ore  dolor. 

Sed  tenebrae  fugiunt,  et  lux  nova  nascitur  alma, 
Lumen  fulget  ubi  nubila  rupta  jacent; — 

Et  vir  purpureo  prodit  praecinctus  amictu, 
Mitram  fronte  gerens,  imperiumque  manu; 
Atque  ubi  stat  nostras  fidei  antiquissima  sedes, 
Constituit  solium  Baltimorense  novum. 

Ter  salve,  pater  alme,  Deo  patriaeque  fidelis, 
Intejunctus  amor  purus  uterque  stetit. 
Tempus  in  omne  tuos  cineres  gens  grata  fovebit, 
Spiritus  atque  tuus  pectora  nostra  reget; 

Et  pietas  noinenque  tuum  soliumque  manebunt 
Dumstabit  patris  gloria  cara  tuas. — 

Diffugere  dies,  hodie  vir  cernitur  ille 
Qui  decorat  solium  Baltimorense  vetus. 

Carus  et  ipse  Deo,  patriae  nec  carior  alter, 
Antiquo  decori  contulit  ille  novum, 

Ingenio  miti  moderatur  cuncta  serenus, 

Non  homines  titulo  sed  bonitate regens. 
Dilectus  princeps,  est  omnibus  omnia  factus 
Omnes  ut  Christo  jungat  amicitia. 

Hunc  habuit  sibi  paupertas  oppressa  patronum: 

Hunc  defensorem  nostra  paterna  fides. 
Nostiseum,  fratres,  vultum  vos  nostis  amicum. 
Non  semel  audistis  dulcia  verba  viri. 
Hucproperare  solet  quoties  fios  purpurat  annum 
Ut  vos  electos  signet  et  usque  sacret. 

Ssd  renuit  prohibetque  suas  nos  dicere  laudes; 

Has  meruisse  pudor  judicat  esse  satis. 

Attamen  his  parcat,  cecinit  quae  grata  camoena 
Nectendo  lapsum  cum  vemente  die. 

Quid  si  praeteritos  decoravit  gloria  campos? 

Majus  adhuc  pandunt  seva  futura  decus. 
Principe  praelucente  suo,  praeclara  virorum 
Prodit  ad  arma  cohors,  replet  et  omne  solum. 


Quis  non  gauderet  tarn  laeta  futura  videndo. 

Prassertim  bellum  si  vovet  ipse  sequi. 

Propterea  gaudent  juvenes  hie  undique  lecti 
Quos  sacra  consociat  Woodstochiana  domus. 
Semoti  turba  validis  nos  cingimus  armis, 

Lorica  tegimus  pectus  et  ense  latus. 

Non  procul  exoritur  litui  clangorque  tubarum, 

Et  scimus  quales  convocet  ille  sonus. 

Insignis  praesul,  nostras  quern  nuper  ad  oras 
Per  pelagi  fluctus  aura  secunda  tulit; 

Pontificis  manibus  benedicis  littora  nostra, 

Hos  et  festivos  vestis  honore  dies. 

Quid  tibi  dicet  amor,  quod  dum  majora  renident, 
Non  oblita  manent  iimina  nostra  tibi? 

Non  tantum  largos  nobis  adducis  honores, 

Affers  et  vires  das  animumque  novum. 

Non  secus  atque  solent  animis  gaudere  phalanges 
Cum  princeps  illis  se  sociare  velit, 

Nos  animis  laetamur  te  prsesente  benigne, 

Atque  novus  currit  nostra  per  ossa  vigor, 
Intimior  quo  nexus  adest  caput  inter  et  artus 
Majus  adest  robur  fervidiorque  manus. 

Ut  vis  quid  valeat  debebit  et  una  manere, 

Vis  divisa  valet  nil  nisi  ad  interitum. 

Omnia  demonstras  necti,  clarissime  praesul, 
Monstras  quo  ritu  fioreat  una  fides. 

Hoc  erit  et  verbum  quod  te  veniente  canemus 
“ Regnat  et  una  fides,  regnat  et  ipse  Leo.” 
Robore  sic  firmas,  sic  nos  facis  undique  tutos; 

Ah!  utinam  posses  nos  facere,  alme  pater, 
Undique  felices;  in  gaudia  decidit  umbra, 

Et  laetis  oculis  tristis  imago  subit. 

Vertimushinc  hodie  mcerentia  lumina  Romam, 
Quasrimus  ausonias  (quaeque  abiere),  dies. 
Pontificis  nostri  nos  infortunia  lasdunt, 

Flemus  et  ipsius  quod  diadema  fuit. 

Attamen  angustis  sua  sunt  solatia  rebus, 

Nunc  in  eum  noster  plenior  ardet  amor, 
Pulchrior  appai'et  rosa  cum  ros  splendet  in  ilia, 
Pulchrior  est  vultus  quern  decorant  lacrymae. 
Quid  vero  querimur?  Galilgei  in  littore  ponti 
Est  firmata  fides,  nec  tremefacta  timet 
Qui  venti  resonent  vel  quale  remugiat  aequor; 

Mergatur  pelago  pulchrior  inde  venit. — 

Diluvii  vindex  quo  creverat  altior  unda, 

Area  super  fluctus  altior  eminqit. 

Praeteriit  species  et  nunc  res  ipsa  patescit, 
Evehitur  pariter  fluctibus  area  Petri. 

Cum  venti  reboant  equitat  sublimis  in  undis, 

Et  propior  ccelo  surgit  ad  ora  Dei. 

Quod  delet  gentes  ad  Stellas  deferet  illam, 

Et  magis  attollet  quo  magis  unda  furet. 

Non  tamen  usque  furet,  rabies  cessabit  aquarum, 
lam  nunc  ex  area  missa  columba  volat. 

Pontifici  nostro,  prassul  venerande,  redibis, 

Et  dices  illi  jam  cubuisse  mare. 

E terra  nostra  ramum  portabis  olivse, 

Et  colies  virides  rursus  adesse  refer, 

Iamque  duci  navis  captivo  rite  parari 
Lustrat  ratos  campos  ausoniasque  dies. 

FROM  SEED-TIME  TO  HARVESTS. 

I. 

PROLOGUE. 

We  bring  for  a greeting  a simple  song, 

Not  wrought  in  idle  boast ; 

But  touched  with  the  strain  that  moved  along 
O'er  Bethlehem's  heights  when  the  seraph  ho 
Glad  for  the  dawning  of  long-watched  days, 

Choired  their  heaven-born  hymn  of  praise. 


This  was  our  hope — it  may  please  the  ear 
Of  one  that  leans  from  his  prison  tower 
With  listening  heart,  if  still  he  hear 

Somewhere  truth's  footsteps  move  in  power ; 
Will  it  please  his  ear  if  it  ring  from  afar 
(The  voice  of  a child)  ’gainst  his  prison  bar? 


Nay,  but  he  comes  in  gracious  wise, 

Himself,  his  love,  in  one  he  sends, 

And  we  for  the  joy  that  in  us  lies 
Waken  the  strain  that  fancy  lends, 

A song  from  the  days  when  song  was  young, 
When  the  minstrel  smote  his  harp  and  sung. 


II. 

Not  dreaming,  but  with  eyes  that  watched  awake 
I walked  with  the  spirit  of  old  years 
Hearkening  her  words  of  wisdom,  glad  to  take 
Her  gifts  of  joy  or  tears. 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


TI3 


For  I my  purpose  held  to  search  what  ways 
God  reared  his  worship  in  the  land, 

And  nourished  it— set  from  the  birth  of  days 
In  the  keeping  of  his  hand. 

So  through  the  realm  of  years  I went  to  where 
A fair  ship  blown  o'er  leagues  of  sea 
Touched  at  the  marge;  and  men  were  weaving  there 
The  sounds  of  a litany ; 

Till  come  at  last  upon  the  happy  shore, 

Close  by  the  tolling  of  the  wave 
They  said  the  Mass  that  all  the  land  evermore 
To  God’s  dear  worship  gave. 

Then  said  the  spirit  of  years:  “ Lo!  strong  and  fast 
God  sets  the  rock  whereon  shall  rise 
The  glory  of  his  church — firm-based  and  cast 
Deep  in  Christ’s  sacrifice; 

“Thence  shall  all  blessings  to  his  people  flow 
That  building  not  through  gloom  of  night 
A stranger  faith,  felt  on  its  cradled  brow 
Truth,  like  a crown  of  light.” 

As  one  that  watcheth  where  broad  waters 
Cloud  pictures  on  the  water’s  face, 

So  watched  I many  an  old  year  forward  creep 
Scene-wise  in  that  strange  place  ; 

And  saw  God  work  without  the  stress  of  toil 
His  miracle,  make  straight  his  ways  ; 

His  spirit  brooding  on  the  sullen  soil 
Beyond  the  dawning  days  ! 

III. 

For  now  it  was  the  seed-time  of  God’s  word, 

And  sowers  in  unbroken  fields 
Scattered  a seed  of  light  that  quickening  stirred 
To  life  the  flower  it  yields. 

And  fair  its  bloom  is  in  the  face  of  heaven  ! 

They  clothed  it  ’round  with  deeds  of  good, 

Bringing  the  precious  drops  of  toil  for  leaven 
And  the  rich  dew. of  blood. 

For  I beheld  the  sowers  kneel  to  meet 
Death  in  the  deathful  arrows’  speed ; 

Or  in  the  enkindled  flame  lay  at  God’s  feet 
A holocaust  indeed. 

“ Thus,”  said  my  guarding  spirit,  “ heaven  molds 
Its  instrument  for  higher  aims  to  be — ■ 

Held  darkling  in  the  yet  unbroken  folds 
Of  years.  Look  you  and  see.” 

IV. 

And  turning  I beheld  the  crowding  sail 
Waft  hither  o’er  Hesperian  foam, 

Their  hosts  of  men — till  dimly  through  the  veil 
There  shaped  a nation’s  home. 

And  one  bright  hope  rose  starwise  ; here  where  strife 
Of  human  passions  ruled  the  least 
A sweeter  faith  might  purge  the  springs  of  life 
Half-stagnate  in  the  east ! 

Ah,  shame  ! that  error  winged  a rapid  flight 
From  his  old  haunts— with  clash  of  creeds 
Coming — like  that  through  the  dark  of  night 
Scattered  his  poison  seeds. 

But  still  the  years  rolled  forward,  till  a cry 
Of  battles  shrilling  through  the  air, 

And  the  loud  shock  of  conflict  welling  nigh, 

Filled  my  heart  with  despair. — 

What  hope  for  fruits  of  life  when  private  hate 
Is  blighting  with  its  venomed  breath, 

And  yon  fierce  torrent  pouring  makes  elate 
The  harvest  fields  of  death  ! 

Nay,  who  may  tell  what  issue  of  God’s  plan 
Lurks  in  the  trumpet  call  to  war? 

Out  of  the  wind  of  battles  blows  to  man 
A good  he  looked  not  for. 

This  common  need  will  win  a common  right 
For  truth — deeper  than  error  sown — 

And  that  fair  field  whereon  its  perfect  might 
Ne’er  yet  was  overthrown. 


V. 

So  when  from  toil  of  war  the  nation  rose, 

Clad  in  the  strength  of  each  strong  son  ; 

And  drawing  hidden  forces  from  the  throes 
Of  battle,  made  them  one  : 

Lo!  God’s  fair  church,  guided  by  power  divine, 
Gathered  its  strength,  and,  like  a star, 

Orbed  to  that  perfect  light  which  they  see  shine 
Who  watch  it  from  afar. 

For  I beheld  a loyal  priesthood  drawn 
From  many  lands — no  casts  of  chance  ; 

Heaven-sped  from  tyrant’s  hate,  or  that  red  dawn 
Which  flushed  the  heart  of  France  ; 

And  one  of  that  fair  body  crowned  the  head 

(Himself  had  crowned  his  soul  with  virtue’s  might). 
Stood  where  the  willing  toilers  gathered 
The  early  fruits  of  light ! 

I knew  whence  came  the  spirit  that  in  them  dwells; 

Those  deeds  of  light  whose  echoes  fill 
The  years,  sweet  as  the  sounds  of  Sabbath  bells, 

When  all  the  world  is  still. 

“ Heaven  be  their  strength  ! ” 1 murmured,  half  in  fear, 
As  in  the  forward  tide  of  time 
A world-old  voice  of  insult  drew  anear, 

And  the  rude  force  of  crime 

Was  pushed  against  the  rock  that  God  had  set ; 

Vain  fury  ! where  the  tempest  grew, 

Ever  then  brake  the  sudden  rift  that  let 
The  sunlight  of  God’s  presence  through  : 

Then  said  the  spirit  guardian  of  old  years  : 

“ Lo  ! here  the  strength  that  can  prevail : 

Not  human  ; not  the  sport  of  human  fears  ; 

’Tis  God’s;  it  cannot  fail.” 


VI. 

She  said,  and  vanished  in  the  years  away; 

I stood  within  the  present  once  again, 

Like  one  new-waked  from  dreams  when  the  broad  day 
Beats  full  upon  the  plain  ; 

And  saw  God  work  without  the  stress  of  toil 
His  miracle  ; make  straight  his  ways  ; 

His  spirit  brooding  on  a fruitful  soil 
In  the  glad  dawn  of  days  ! 

Still  moved  the  reapers  where  rich  harvests  grew 
Far  as  the  land  lay  ! and  a prayer 
Stirred  in  my  heart  that  said:  “God  keep  them  true, 

The  harvesters  toiling  there  ! ” 


A L I QU  A F.  C O N S I DE RAT  I O N E S 

SUPER  REVMO.  IOANNE  CARROLL  ET  ECCLESIAE  IN  STATIRUS  AMERICAE 
SFPTENTRIONALIS  CONSTITUTAE  CENTENNIO. 

Serta  ter  denis  alios  coronant 

Aucta  crementis,  duplicata  quosdam; 

Trina  te  fructu  cumulata  centum 
Nexibus  ornant. 

Paulus  Warxf.feied  (vulgo  Diaconus). 

His  hymni  versibus  dominica  exponentibus  eloquia  de  sementis 
granis  quorum  alia  tricenos  vel  sexagenos,  alia  centenos  fructus  protu- 
lisse  perhibentur,  prima  facie  quidem  beatissimus  Ioannes  Baptista* 
honoratur:  eos  autem  non  incongrue  adaptari  posse  etiam  clarissimo 
Iocinni  Carroll  patriarchali  ac  priino  totius  ecclesiae  in  statibus 
Americae  septentrionalis  unitis  praefecto,  episcopo  et  archiepiscopo 
Baltimorensi,  tribus  mihi  considerationibus  arridet,  quarum  prima  est, 
quod  annus  1789,  quo  isto  praesule  pro  episcopatu  baltimorensi 
nominato,  hisce  regionibus  hierarchia  catholica  invecta  est,  iam  cen- 
tesima  vice  replicatur,  unde  annum  ilium  quasi  centenis  frugibus 
uberem  commemorantes,  centenaria  istius  eventus  festa  agere  dicimur. 
Sccunda  vero,  quod  suae  sedis  dignitas  non  modo  in  archiepiscopalem 
aucta  est,  sed  cuius  archiepiscopis  successoribus  inter  omnes  harum 
regionum  praelatos,  quacunque  caeteroquin  pollerent  dignitate,  primus 
a sede  apostolica  collatus  est  consessus;  imo  cuius  in  praesentiarum 
possessor  summi  pontificis  gratia  nobis  praeest  cardinalitia  insignitus 
eminentia.  Et  tertia,  quod  ea  quae  ab  exordio,  centum  scilicet 
abhinc  annis,  quando  civium  praeiudiciis  et  iniquis  complurium 
coloniarum  legibus  vera  adhuc  religio  eiusque  publicum  exercitium 


THE  BALTIMORE  FESTIVITIES. 


114 

proscriptum  exulabat,  una  duntaxat  erat  dioecesis,  cuius  episcopo  tri- 
ginta  sive  vix  quadraginta  presbyteri  assistebant,  et  ex  illis viginti  duo 
tantum  primae  synodo  anno  1791  convocatae  intervenire  poterant: 
fidelium  vero  numerus  triginta  aut  quadraginta  millium  per  immensam 
regionem  remotissime  ab  invicem  habitantium  censebatur — ea,  in- 
quam,  dioecesis  sementi  a patriarcha  nostro  sata,  incrementum  dante 
benigna  providentia,  in  tredecim  iam  excrevit  provincias  ecclesiasti- 
cas,  septuaginta  dualuis  dioecesibus,  septem  vicariatibus  unaque 
praefectura  apostolica:  in  quibus  iuxta  censum  recentissinnnn  ad 
minus  octo  sacerdotum  millia  laborant,  qui  octogies  centenorum  mil- 
lium fidelium  curam  gerunt:  ita  ut  turn  fidelium  turn  sacerdotum  nu- 
merus biscenties,  antistitum  autem,  si  caeteros  viros  a summo  pontifice 
praelaturae  insignibus  addas  decoratos,  prope  centies  sit  multipli- 
catus.* 

Quodsi  veterum  adagioni  credas,  constare  dices  rerum  eventu: 
“concordia  parvas  res  crescere,  discordia  maximas  dilabi.  ” Sednosin 
una  republica  caeteroquin  heterodoxorum  sectis  distracta,  catho- 
licorum  octogies  centena  millia  solo  religionis  sensu  inter  se  unita 
mirantes  hoc  incrementum  divino  satori  ascribimus,  qui  primo  iam 
aevo  christiano  effecit,  ut  “ multitudinis  credentium  esset  cor  unum  et 
anima  una.”  Cui  nostrae  convictioni  civium  a catholica  religione 
aberrantium  praecones  accedere  deceret,  antiquos  imitantes  aegyptios, 
qui  Mose  mirabilia  patrante  agnoscere  coacti  sunt,  quod  “digitus  Dei 
est  hie.” 

Verum  ne  nimis  a proposito  aberrem,  nonne  tanta  incrementa 
fruges  sunt  e sementi  a Ioanne  patriarcha  nostro  sata  procreatae? 
Cuius  rei  nonne  testis  est  sedes  apostolica,  quae  eum  a simplici  pres- 
byterorum  superiore  sen  praefecto  ad  episcopatum,  et  non  multo  post 
ad  archiepiscopalem  promovit  dignitatem?  Quumque  deinde  plures 
archiepiscopi  crearentur,  baltimorensi  prae  omnibus  praecedentiam 
decrevit,  imo  praesenti  contulit  purpuram?  Neque  satis  est  antistitum 
et  presbyterorum  numerum  et  dignitatem  auctam  meminisse;  namque 
etiam  variorum  ordinum  et  congregationum  domus  monialiumque 
conventus  introducti,  universale  lyceum  et  seminaria  dioecesana 
atque  pueroruni  scholae  fundatae,  orphanotrophia,  nosocomia 
omnisque  generis  pia  instituta  ubique  inveniuntur  erecta.  Eadein 
porro  ratione  qua  fidelium  numerus,  et  animus  crevit,  qui  iam  publicis 
sui  erga  veram  religionem  amoris  demonstrationibus  interesse  non 
verentur.  Quam  rerum  summam  si  magnifico  compares  aedificio, 
eiusdem  lapidem  primarium  non  dubitabis  proclamare  Ioannem  Car- 
roll.  primum  cleri  americani  sup^riorem,  episcopum  et  archiepisco- 
pum  baltimorensem,  cui  et  I)eus  episcopatus  sui  annum  vigesimum 
quintum  concessit,  et  quem  nos  uti  Americae  septentrionalis  patri- 
archam  veneramur. 

Huic  igitur  viro  carmen  versuum  supradictorum  nuraero  adapta- 
tum  liceat  proferre: 

IOANNI  CARROLL  EPISCOPO 
HIERARCHIAE  IN  STATIBYS  VNITIS  CONSTITVTAE 
VIRO  PRINCIPI 
CARMEN SAECVEARE! 

IN  IOANNEM  CARROLL, 

IN  STATIBUS  AMERICAE  SEPTENTRIONALIS  UNITIS  ECCLESIAE  CATHOLICAE 

PATRIARCHAM. 

Rite  quem  pastor  posuit  supreinus, 

Ut  gregis  curae  vigilares  almi, 

Te  cano,  praefectum  ovibus  relictis 
Americanis. 

* Liceat  hie  incolarum  reipublicae  progressum  proportionalem  cum 
catholicoruin  progressu  conferre:  hi  enim  spatio  centenario  ex  40,000  ad 
8,000,000,  i.  e.  biscenties.  illi  autem  eodem  spatio  ex  4,000,000  ad  64,000,000  et 
non  inulto  plures,  i.  e.  sedecies  multiplicati  increverunt.  Item  alia  compara- 
tio  haec  est:  ante  centenniuin  inter  4,000,000  incolarum  vix  40,000  catholico- 
rum  inveniebantur,  (piae  est  pars  centenionalis  (1-100);  iam  vero  inter 
64,000^0  (et  non  multo  plura)  totius  reipublicae  incolarum  8,000,000  catho- 
licorum  censentur,  quae  est  pars  octava  (1-8).  Quantumvis  ergo  in  statibus 
unitis  nnmerius  increvit  progressus,  a longe  comparari  nequit  progresso 
numerio  in  ecclesia  catholica,  quae  cursu  duodecies  velociore  est  progressa. 


Tu  sequens  gressus  prope  apostolorum 
Tramitem  veri  populos  docebas, 

Congregans  sparsas  reduces  cohortes 
Christicolarum. 

Eboraci  tu,  Philadelphiaeque 
Atque  Bostoni,  quoque  Baltimorae 
Ordinis  index,  simul  affuisti 
Pacis  amator. 

Tu  bonus  pastor,  patriarcha  sanctus, 

Clericis  et  forma,  gregique  factus, 

Iustus,  nec  pietateparva  cuique 
Semper  amicus.” 

Sic  Ioannes  sibi  stabat  idem, 

Pro  Deo  zelans,  animasque  venans, 

Sanctus  aeprudens,  neque  non  laborans, 

Compatiensque. 

Qui  probis  virtute  suavitatis 
Semper  accessu  facilis  patebat, 

Hie  erat  nequam  tamen  obstinatis 
Strenuus  ultor. 

Qui  Deo  carus,  populo  fideli, 

Alter  ut  Moses,  facile  imperabat, 

Ac  sui  vero  studio  excitabat 
Et  patriotas. 

Cui  parens  assumpta  Dei  favebat. 

Aedis  hanc  legit  cathedralis  almae 
Atque  nmneris  proprii  patronam 
Pontificalis . 

Dumque  ter  aenis  alii,  duplisve 
Floribus  iuste  meritis  renident, 

Centies  vir  nexuit  iste  opimam 
Fruge  coronam. 

Grex  enim  quondam  numero  pusillus 
enties  bis  multus  adest  fidelis, 

Gloria  tanta  sub  episcoporum,  et 
Presbyterorum.  . 

Eccui  fido  Dominus  ligavit 
Virginem  sponso  patriam  redemptam! 

Unde  praelatum  veneremur  omnes 
Ut  patriarcham  ! 

O Ioannes,  patriae  patrone, 

Spiritu  iam  nobis  adesto  pronus 
Hie  tuo  sub  nomine  congregatis 
Tempore  saecli! 

Amen. 

P.  Petr.  Fc.  Frischbier,  C.  SS.  R. 

Baltimorae,  ad  St.  Jacobi,  Mense  Octobri,  1889. 


The  following  sonnet  is  by  Archbishop  O’Brien,  of  Halifax 

1789. — CENTENARY. — 1889. 

Firm  vindicator  of  man’s  sacred  rights, 

O church  ! first  gospel-bearer  to  this  shore, 

Strong  in  thy  hoary  age,  as  strong  of  yore 
When  belted  tyrants  in  thy  pristine  fights, 

Worsted,  revoked  such  law  as  freedom  blights, 

And  conscience  freed;  here,  too,  thy  mission  bore 
The  fruit  of  light;  thy  sons  made  Baltimore 
A beacon  city  on  fair  freedom’s  heights. 

The  cycling  years  have  marked  one  hundred  now, 

Since  mitred  chief,  endued  with  power  divine, 

This  see  linked  to  thy  throne;  he  sowed  in  tears; 

In  deep  thanksgiving  joyous  reapers  bow, 

Soul-filled  with  hopes  that  in  the  ages  shine 
To  garner  richer  fruit  in  coming  years. 


THE  END 


I in  tine  Following 


\\"  i 1 1 lie  ouncl 


A COMPLETE  LIST 

OF  THE 

Principal  Catholic  Educational  Institutions 

IN  THE 

UNITED  STATES  AND  CANADA. 

THE  LEADING 

PUBLISHERS  AHD  BOOKSELLERS, 


arid  Manufacturers  and  Dealers  in  Churcn  and 
School  Articles. 


11 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  COLLEGES. 


Mount  St.  Mary's  College, 


EMMITTSBURG,  M LX, 


, AS  founded  in  1808  by  Father  John  Dubois,  after- 
ward Bishop  of  New  York.  In  1812,  Kev.  Simon 
G.  Brut£,  afterward  the  first  Bishop  of  Vincennes, 
was  associated  with  the  founder  in  conducting 
the  College.  A new  college  building  was  com- 
pleted in  1824,  but  on  the  6th  of  June  of  that  year 
it  was  destroyed  by  lire.  A larger  building  was 
erected  and  occupied  in  1826.  The  College 
obtained  its  first  charter  from  the  legislature  of 
the  state  of  Maryland  in  1830,  during  the  presi- 
dency of  Rev.  John  B.  Purcell,  afterward  Arch- 
bishop of  Cincinnati.  From  the  year  1838  to  1871 , 
Very  Rev.  John  McCaffrey,  D.P  , presided  over 
the  College. 

During  this  first  century  of  its  existence  many  distinguished  men  have 
been  educated  at  Mount  St.  Mary's  College.  The  names  of  Cardinal 


and  the  mother  house  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity , founded  by  Madame  Seton,  are 
in  the  immediate  vicinity.  To  many  parents  the  chief  advantage  presented 
by  Mount  St.  Mary's  College  is  its  quiet  seclusion  and  remoteness  from  the 
distractions,  excitements,  and  dangers  of  the  city.  The  large  farm  and 
gardens  belonging  to  the  College  furnish  abundance  of  the  choicest  dairy 
produce,  fruits,  and  vegetables.  The  vicinity  of  the  College  is  a delightful 
summer  resort. 

The  recreation  grounds  are  extensive  and  well  shaded,  and  contain  a 
gymnasium,  ball  alleys,  and  ample  space  for  athletic  games  and  all  health- 
giving  exercises.  Students  during  recreation  hours  can  leave  College  bounds 
in  the  company  of  a prefect  or  tutor  for  long  walks  through  the  country. 
In  sickness  and  in  health  the  students  are  cared  for,  directed  and  watched 
over  with  parental  kindness  and  solicitude. 

There  is  a separate  Junior  Department,  in  which  are  educated  such 
youthful  students  as  are  not  likely  to  profit  by  ordinary  college  discipline  and 
studies.  Boys  under  fourteen  years  of  age  are  entered  as  J uniors. 


MOUNT  ST.  MARY’S  COLLEGE. 


McCloskey,  Archbishop  Hughes,  Archbishop  Purcell,  Archbishop  Corrigan. 
Archbishop  Elder,  Bishops  J.  M.  Young,  Francis  II.  Gar tland,  George  A. 
Carrell,  John  Louglilin,  Richard  V.  Wheeling,  William  Quarters,  John 
Quinlan,  F.  P.  McFarland,  John  Conroy,  Edward  Fitzgerald,  Richard 
Gilmour,  William  McCloskey,  John  L.  Spalding,  John  A.  Watterson,  Francis 
S.  Chatard  and  II.  P.  Northrop;  Thomas  McGovern,  Rev.  John  McCaffrey, 
D.I).;  Hon.  James  McSherry,  the  historian  of  Maryland;  Jerome  Bonaparte, 
Charles  Harper,  Gen.  James  M.  Coale,  George  II.  Miles,  James  Meline, 
Rev.  John  O’Brien,  author  of  a History  of  the  Holy  Mass;  Hon.  John  Lee 
Carroll,  LL.D.;  Franklin  B.  Gowan,  LL.  D.;  Charles  W.  Hoffman,  LL.D., 
and  Hon.  Carroll  Spence,  LL.D.,  are  found  in  the  list  of  its  alumni. 

Since  its  foundation  by  Bishop  Dubois,  there  has  been  maintained  in 
connection  with  the  College  an  Ecclesiastical  Seminary  for  the  education  of 
missionary  priests. 

The  institution  is  under  the  direction  and  control  of  an  association  of 
clergymen,  and,  in  addition  to  the  clergy,  there  are  in  the  faculty  several 
eminent  lay  professors.  The  number  of  teachers  and  tutors  furnished  by 
the  Seminary  is  such  that  classes  are  limited  in  membership,  so  that  more 
than  ordinary  attention  can  be  given  to  each  pupil. 

The  material  interests  of  the  College  are  under  the  control  of  a Board, 
the  members  of  which  are  selected  from  among  the  more  distinguished 
alumni.  The  Archbishop  of  Baltimore,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  is  President 
of  this  Board. 

The  College  buildings  are  situated  on  high  ground  at  the  foot  of  the 
Maryland  range  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  The  location  is  pleasant, 
healthy  and  convenient  of  access.  TJie  celebrated  Academy  of  St.  Joseph's, 


The  regular  course  for  such  as  desire  to  take  the  degrees,  embraces  the 
Greek  and  Latin  languages,  French  (or  Geihnan,  at  the  option  of  the 
student),  Moral  Philosophy,  Logic,  Mathematics,  Chemistry,  Natural  Phi- 
losophy, Geology,  English  Grammar  and  Literature,  Geography,  History  and 
Christian  Doctrine. 

In  addition  to  the  usual  promotions  at  the  beginning  of  the  scholastic 
year,  advancement  to  a higher  grade  is  sometimes  attained  at  the  middle 
examination  by  extraordinary  talent  and  industry. 

There  is  a scientific  and  business  course  from  which  the  study  of  Latin 
and  Greek  is  omitted,  and  in  which  more  attention  is  paid  to  commercial 
requirements,  such  as  bookkeeping,  mercantile  accounting  and  kindred 
branches. 

All  are  required  to  follow  the  course  of  studies  prescribed  for  the  depart- 
ment into  which  they  are  allowed  to  enter. 

The  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  is  conferred  on  such  students  as  have 
followed  and  completed  the  regular  collegiate  course.  Graduates  of  the 
Commercial  Department  who  have  proved  themselves  worthy,  receive 
proper  certificates. 

The  sessions  of  the  College  begin  on  the  first  of  September  and  the  first 
of  February,  and  continue  live  months  each. 

Although  the  College  is  accessible  by  rail,  by  way  of  Frederick,  Hanover, 
Hagerstown,  Gettysburg  or  Mechanicstown,  the  most  convenient  route  is 
by  way  of  Union  Station,  Baltimore,  and  thence  overthe  Western  Maryland 
and  Emmittsburg  Railroads. 

Information  regarding  the  College  can  be  obtained  by  addressing  Rev. 
E.  P.  Allen,  I).  D.,  who  is  president  of  the  institution. 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  COLLEGES. 


in 


MOUflT  ST.  JV[ AIRY’S. 


TPlne  I id c? i c 1 cnt«  i i 1 1 1 d ca 


of  a 


1 1 i i 1 1 i l i c > n . 


OUNT  ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE,  Emmittsburg, 
Md.,  was  founded  in  1808  by  Rev.  John  Dubois, 
afterward  bishop  of  New  York.  Father  Dubois 
was  a native  of  Paris,  France.  He  was  ordained 
shortly  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  French 
Revolution.  When  exiled  from  his  native  land 
he  came  to  this  country,  landing  at  Norfolk  in 
Jul}%  1791,  and  offered  his  services  to  Bishop 
Carroll.  He  was  welcomed  to  Virginia  by  the 
Randolphs,  the  Lees,  the  Beverlys,  by  Monroe 
and  Patrick  Henry.  All  recognized  him  to  be 
a polished  gentleman  possessed  of  great  learning  and  piety.  Through  the 
influence  of  these  friends,  he  was  invited  to  celebrate  Mass  in  the  very  state 
house  at  Richmond. 

In  1794  he  was  sent  by  Bishop  Carroll  to  Frederick,  Md.  His  mission 
was  almost  boundless,  for  he  was,  for  a time,  the  sole  priest,  besides  Rev. 
Father  Badin  in  Kentucky,  from  Frederick  to  St.  Louis.  In  his  zealous 
labors  he  mourned  the  destitution  of  the  church.  He  saw  a rich  field  filled 
with  weeds  because  there  were  few  laborers  to  cultivate  the  soil.  He  saw 
that  schools  were  needed  to  train  the  young  and  to  prepare  them  for  the 
sacred  ministry.  He  therefore  resolved  to  establish  a school.  He  had  no 
means  at  his  command, but  he  was  strong  in  faith  and  endowed  with  indomit- 
able zeal  and  perseverance.  In  1805  he  built  the  church  near  Emmittsburg 
011  the  mountain  side.  This  church  still  stands  as  a monument  of  his  zeal 
and  piety.  In  1807  he  purchased  the  land  for  the  Seminary  and  at  once 
erected  a log  house  in  which  he  opened  his  school  in  August,  1808.  In  two 
years  the  number  of  his  pupils  had  risen  to  forty,  in  three  years  to  sixty  and 
in  five  to  eighty.  Besides  his  work  at  the  college  Father  Dubois  was 
spiritual  director  to  St.  Joseph’s  Academy,  the  institution  founded  by  Mother 
Seton  in  Emmittsburg  in  1809. 

Among  the  early  pupils  of  the  college  were  William  and  Richard  Seton, 
sons  of  Mother  Seton;  Michael  Egan,  successor  of  Father  Dubois  in  the 
presidency  of  the  college;  Jerome  Bonaparte,  nephew  of  the  great  emperor; 
a nephew  of  the  first  President,  George  Washington;  the  late  Dr.  Chatard, 
of  Baltimore;  Rev.  William  Byrne,  afterward  founder  of  St.  Mary’s  College, 
in  Kentucky.  Rev.  George  Elder  and  Rev.  John  Hickey,  Superior  of  the 
Sisters  of  Charity.  In  1811  Rev.  Simon  Gabriel  Brute,  truly  called  “the 
Angel  of  the  Mount,”  joined  Father  Dubois  at  Mount  St.  Mary’s,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  a short  time  spent  in  Baltimore  as  president  of  St.  Mary’s 
College,  remained  there  until  he  was  made  bishop  of  Vincennes  in  1834. 

In  1823,  pupils  at  Mount  St.  Mary’s  had  increased  to  such  a number  that 
Father  Dubois  felt  justified  in  undertaking  to  erect  a large  stone  structure 
for  their  accommodation.  The  building  was  almost  ready  to  occupy  when  it 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  on  the  6th  of  J une,  1824.  This  was  a severe  blow,  and 
one  that  would  have  crushed  a less  courageous  spirit  than  Father  Dubois. 
With  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  he  cried  out:  “The  Lord  gave,  and  the 
Lord  hath  taken  away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.”  While  the  flames 
were  still  burning  he  was  seen  tracing  the  lines  of  a new  building,  and  he 
said:  “There  were  defects  in  this;  I will  remedy  them  in  the  next.”  He 
began  to  rebuild  at  once.  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics  for  miles  about 
the  college  offered  their  services  gratis  to  help  on  the  good  work. 

In  a short  time  the  new  building  was  ready  to  occupy.  In  1826  Father 
Dubois  was  appointed  bishop  of  New  York  and  Rev.  Michael  de  Burgo  Egan 
succeeded  him  in  the  presidency  of  the  college.  Father  Egan,  failing  in 
health,  went  to  Europe,  and  died  in  France,  on  his  way  home  from  Rome  in 
August,  1829.  Rev.  John  McGerry  succeeded  Father  Egan.  Rev.  John  B. 
Purcell,  afterward  archbishop  of  Cincinnati,  became  president  in  1830. 
Father  Purcell  was  a man  of  energy,  zeal,  and  piety.  He  ruled  the  fortunes 
of  the  Mountain  with  a firm  hand  and  a loving  heart.  During  his 


administration,  the  institution  made  rapid  strides  in  the  field  of  letters.  It 
obtained  its  charter  from  the  legislature  of  Maryland  in  1830. 

Among  the  students  in  the  seminary  or  college  while  Father  Purcell  was 
in  charge  were  John  McCloskey,  late  cardinal  archbishop  of  New  York; 
George  Carrol  and  Richard  Whalen,  afterward  bishops  respectively  of  Coving- 
ton and  Wheeling;  Francis  Gartland,  afterward  bishop  of  Savannah;  John 
McCaffrey,  president  in  1838;  Rev.  Edwin  J.  Sourin,  S.  J.;  Rev.  Alexander 
Hitzelberger,  S.  J. 

In  1831  he  received  into  the  college  William  Henry  Elder,  destined  to  be 
his  successor  fifty  years  later  in  the  see  of  Cincinnati. 

In  1833  Father  Purcell  was  appointed  bishop  of  Cincinnati.  Rev-  Francis 
Jamison  was  president  for  a few  months  until  Rev.  Thomas  Butler  took  the 
helm.  Father  Butler  gave  place  to  Rev.  John  McCaffrey,  D.  D.,  in  1838.  Dr. 
McCaffrey  governed  the  institution  until  1871.  Dr.  McCaffrey  was  a man  of 
wide  erudition,  and  possessed  of  rare  literary  ability.  His  wonderful  memory 
and  extensive  range  of  reading  made  him  a very  encyclopaedia  of  information 
on  almost  every  subject.  As  a classical  scholar  he  had  few  superiors,  while 
his  English,  both  for  vigor  and  purity,  was  pronounced  by  the  late  Dr.  Brown- 
son  as  “ unrivalled.”  During  his  administration  great  improvements  were 
made  in  every  department.  New  buildings  were  erected  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  great  number  that  flocked  to  the  college  from  all  parts  of  the 
country.  In  1858  the  semi-centennial  was  celebrated  by  the  college  alumni, 
and  old  students  from  every  rank  and  profession  came  together  to  do  honor 
to  their  Alma  Mater. 

The  civil  war  injured  the  college  greatly.  When  peace  was  declared,  the 
institution  was  found  to  be  heavily  in  debt.  For  years  the  financial  struggle 
was  maintained.  In  1871  the  condition  of  Dr.  McCaffrey’s  health  obliged 
him  to  resign, and  Rev.  John  McCloskey,  D.  D.,  was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 
Father  McCloskey  had  been  vice-president  and  treasurer  of  the  college  since 
1841,  and  was  therefore  perfectly  familiar  with  the  work  of  his  office.  All 
who  knew  Father  John,  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  revered  and  loved 
him. 

It  was  during  his  administration  that  Pope  Pius  IX  raised  the  Most  Rev. 
John  McCloskey,  D.  D-,  to  the  dignity  of  the  cardinalate.  Many  persons  may 
yet  remember  the  glad  welcome  given  to  the  cardinal  by  his  fellow-moun- 
taineers when  he  visited  his  Alma  Mater  in  June,  1875.  Dr.  McCloskey  re- 
signed the  presidency  in  August,  1877,  and  Rev.  John  A.  Watterson  was 
elected  in  his  place.  I11  1880,  Dr.  Watterson  was  appointed  bishop  of  Col- 
umbus, and  Dr.  McCloskey  was  again  asked  to  take  the  presidency.  He  ac- 
cepted with  reluctance,  for  he  felt  that  he  could  not  stand  the  strain  of  the 
office,  harassed  as  he  was  by  the  college  debts.  He  fell  sick  in  November, 
and  died  December  24,  1880.  Rev.  William  J.  Hill  was  appointed  president 
a few  days  later,  but,  on  coming  into  office  he  found  that  the  debts  were  twice 
as  great  as  he  had  been  led  to  believe.  He  resigned  after  a short  period,  and 
Very  Rev.  William  Byrne,  Vicar  General  of  Boston,  was  elected  president. 
Dr.  Byrne  through  generous  donations  from  Canada,  from  Cardinal  Mc- 
Closkey,and  the  alumni  and  friends  of  the  college,  succeeded  in  reducing  the 
debt  to  about  $65,000,  and  placing  the  institution  once  more  on  a good  finan- 
cial basis. 

In  1884  Dr.  Byrne  was  recalled  to  bis  diocese,  and  Rev.  Edward  P.  Allen 
was  appointed  to  succeed  him.  During  the  last  five  years,  while  the  debt 
lias  decreased  to  $35,000,  the  attendance  at  the  college  and  seminary  has 
greatly  increased.  The  college  never  had  a stronger  or  more  energetic 
faculty  than  at  the  present  time,  nor  was  it  ever  better  equipped  to  do  the 
work  mapped  out  by  Dubois  and  Brute.  The  officers  of  the  institution  are 
Rev.  Edward  P.  Allen,  D.  D.,  President;  Rev.  John  J.  Tierney,  A.  M.  vice- 
president;  Rev.  Edward  McSweeney,  D.  D.,  Rev.  F.  P.  Ward,  A.  M.,  Rev. 
William  O’Hara,  Rev.  D.  Quinn,  A.  M.,  Prof.  Mitchell,  Prof.  Lagarde,  Prof. 
Leloup,  and  several  adjunct  professors. 


IV 


COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES. 


1841.  1889. 

St.  J ohn’s  College, 

(CONDUCTED  BY  THE  FATHERS  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF  JESUS). 

FORDHAM,  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


Classical,  Scientific  and  Commercial 

Courses. 

The  degrees  of  B.  A.,  M.  A.,  B.  Ph.,  are  given  in  the  Classical  Course  at  the 
end  of  each  corresponding  year  in  Philosophy. 

The  degrees  of  C.  E.  and  B.  S.  are  given  in  the  Scientific  Course.  The 
Electrical  Engineering  Course  is  of  two  years. 

This  College  is  one  of  the  fifty  Military  Colleges  in  which  the  drilling  is 
placed  in  charge  of  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Government. 


St.  John’s  Hall, 

For  lads  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  fourteen  years,  is  near  the  College,  and  is 
under  the  same  direction. 

For  Catalogue  apply  to  the 


REV.  JOHN  SCULLY,  S.  J.,  President. 


T.  IGNATIUS  COLLEGE  is  one  of  the  institutions  of  which  Chicago  has  reason  to  be 
proud.  Founded  just  twenty  years  ago  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  it  has  advanced  steadily, 
until  at  present  it  is  as  thoroughly  equipped  an  educational  institution  as  any  in  the 
West.  Its  two  splendid  Museums  and  its  Chemical  and  Physical  cabinets  challenge 
competition  for  a complete  course  of  Science;  its  Library  of  15,000  volumes,  its  Literary 
and  Dramatic  Societies  and  its  well  graded  classes  of  Modern  and  Ancient  Languages,  give  every  facility  for 
a liberal  education;  while  its  Gymnasium  and  Athletic  Association  attest  the  interest  taken  in  the  physical 
welfare  of  its  students.  For  Catalogue  apply  to 


REV.  EDWARD  A.  HIGGINS,  S.  J.,  President. 


VI 


COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES. 


A lioardiiis  School  Exclusively  for  Catholic  Students  who  wish  to  follow  the  Classical  Course. 

Chartered  for  Catholics  only  in  1865.  Bachelors  of  Arts,  394.  Students  in  October,  1889,  241.  Conducted  by  Fathers  of  the 

REV.  MICHAEL  A.  O'KANE,  S.  J.,  President. 


College  of  the  Holy  Cross, 

WORCESTER,  MASS. 


Founded  in  1843. 
Society  of  Jesus. 


SA^Tfl  CLiA^A  COliliEGE, 

SANTA  CLARA,  CAL. 


Directed  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 


Founded  in  1851.  with  a full  staff  of  Incorporated  in  1855. 

PROFESSORS  AND  TUTORS, 


AND  A 

Thorough  System  of  Instruction. 


IN 

Latin,  Greek,  Mental  Philosophy,  Moral  Philosophy,  Physics,  Chemistry,  Mineralogy,  Assaying,  English,  History,  Geography, 
Penmanship,  Arithmetic,  Bookkeeping,  Mathematics,  Calculus,  Astronomy,  Telegraphy,  Practical  Business, 
Shorthand,  French,  Spanish,  Italian  and  German,  Instrumental  Music  and  Drawing. 


DIVIF5ED  I IN: TO  I X\  < > 


I FTC  ^ I T 


COU  RSIiS  : 


Classical  and 


BESIDES  A PREPARATORY  DEPARTMENT. 


al, 


TERMS: — Board  and  Lodging,  tuition  in  either  Classical  or  Commercial  Department,  Washing  and  Mending,  Stationery,  Medical  Attendance  and 
Medicines,  Fuel,  Baths,  per  session,  §350,  payable  half-yearly  in  advance. 

N.  B. — If  more  than  two  brothers  enter  the  College,  each  additional  one  pays  only  $200  per  session. 

For  further  information,  or  for  catalogue  of  the  College,  apply  to 


REV.  J.  PINASCO,  S.  J.,  President  of  Santa  Clara  College,  Santa  Clara,  Cal. 


COLLEGFS  AND  SEMINARIES. 


vii 


College  and  Seminary  of  Oar  Lady  of  Angels 

SUSPENSION  BRIDGE,  N.  Y. 


The  Art,  Philosophical  and  Theological  Departments  ot  Niagara  University. 


I I IAGARA  UNIVERSITY,  conducted  by  the  priests  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Mission,  was  founded  as  an  institution  of 
' learning  in  1856,  incorporated  under  the  name  of  the  Seminary  of  Our  Lady  of  Angels  in  1863  by  an  act  of  the  Legislature 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  erected  into  a university  under  its  present  title  in  1883  by  the  Regents  of  ihe  University  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  with  the  full  powers  and  authority  of  a university.  It  is  situated  two  miles  north  of  Suspension  Bridge,  on  the  New 

In  sublimity  of  scenery  it  is  without  a rival  in  the  country. 


York  bank  of  the  Niagara  River 


For  ProspectEi®  and  K urther  Information,  address 

Very  I?ev.  P.  V . XAFAAY1G//,  C.  A/.,  President, 

NIAGARA.  UNIVERSITY  /’.  ().,  N.  Y. 


The  Provincial  Seminary  of  St.  Francis  of  Sales,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 


HIS  Seminary  was  erected  in  1856,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Martin  Henni.  Bishop  of  Milwaukee.  The  great  and  arduous  work  of  foundingthis  Institu- 
tion was  intrusted  to  the  zeal  of  two  able  and  learned  priestsof  the  diocese  of  Milwaukee,  the  late  Rev.  Jo. s'.  Snlzmann,  I).  I >.  ilsTti  and  the  Rev.  Micluul  Ihixx.  now 
Archbishop  of  Milwaukee.  After  a long  struggle  with  various  difficulties  the  Salesianum  now  ranks  among'  the  most  flourishing'  and  prominent  ecelesiast ieal  Inst  i- 
tutions  of  the  country,  from  which  more  than  600  priests  have  gone  forth  who  now  labor  in  different  dii  teeses,  chiefly  of  the  Nort  Invest,  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  t lie 
Catholic  people.  The  Salesianum  is  situated  four  miles  south  of  Milwaukee,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Chicago  A North-Western  Railway.  St.  Francis  is  the 


J ■ I Station,  P.  O. 

■ M % and  Express 

if  Office.  It  has 

pleasant  and  spacious  recrea- 
tion grounds,  grassy  plots  and 
shady  woods,  and  affords  an 
open  view  of  Lake  Michigan, 
on  whose  salubrious  shores  the 
Seminary  has  a beautiful  loca- 
tion. To  the  other  useful  im- 
provements has  been  added  an 
Artesian  Well  of  more  than 
1,300  feet  in  depth,  yielding  a 
stream  of  over  300  gallons  a 
minute,  thus  furnishing  the 
Institution  with  an  abundant 
supply  of  very  wholesome 
water.  All  the  class  rooms, 
halls  and  dormitories  are 
heated  with  steam.  The  object 
of  the  Institution  is  the  remote 
and  immediate  preparation  for 
the  holy  Priesthood,  and  only 
such  students  are  received  as 
express  their  intention  of  be- 
coming priests.  In  accordance 
with  this  object,  the  education 
imparted  embraces  the  Classi- 
cal studies,  Philosophy  and  The- 
ology. All  applicants  must 
have  attained  the  age  of  thir- 
teen years;  they  must  havesuc- 
ccssf  ully  passed  t h rough  acom- 
mon  elementary  course  and 
have  a testimonial  of  good  con- 
duct from  their  parish  priest, 
as  also  from  any  institution 
where  they  may  have  studied. 

The  time  for  entering  the  Sem- 
inary is  the  commencement  of 
the  scholastic  year  on  the  first 
Tuesday  of  September.  At 
the  close  of  each  term  (the  end 
of  January  and  June)  a testi- 
monial of  the  conduct,  dili- 
gence and  progress  of  the  Stu- 
dents will  be  sent  to  their  re- 
spective parents  or  guardians. 

TERMS;  Board  and  Tuition,  per  year  — $150.00  Physician's  Fees $5.00  Washing  and  Mending $5.00  Red  and  Bedding  (when  furnished) ...  ...  $5.00 

Instruction  on  the  Piano  and  use  of  instruments  form  extra  charges.  All  payments  must  be  made  to  the  Procurator  of  the  Seminary  half  yearly  in  advance.  Those  who  leave- 
during  the  term  shall  be  allowed  no  deduction,  except  in  case  of  expulsion  or  prot racted  sickness,  ,T O'SE  I’ll  RAINER,  Rector. 


COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES. 


viii 


ST.  BENEDICT’S  COLLEGE, 

ATCHISON,  KANSAS. 


This  Institution  was  founded  in  the  year  1858,  by  Itev.  Augustine  Wirth,  O.  S.  B.,  and  is  conducted  by  the  Benedictine  Fathers.  The  plan  of 
studies  comprises  three  distinct  courses — the  Commercial,  the  Classical  and  the  Theological.  The  staff  embraces  eighteen  professors,  and  two 
hundred  students  are  in  attendance. 

REV.  GERARD  HEINZ,  O.  S.  B.,  RT.  REV.  INNOCENT  WOLF,  O.  S.  B., 

Vice-President  and  Director.  Abbot  and  President. 


Manhattan  College, 


St.  Ignatius  College 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


This  educational  institution,  conducted  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  was 
opened  for  the  reception  of  students  on  the  15th  of  October,  1855.  It  was  chartered  by  the 
State  on  the  30th  of  April.  1859.  and  empowered  to  confer  academical  degrees,  with 
“such  literary  honors  as  are  granted  by  any  University  in  the  United  States.” 

A thorough  course  of  Christian  Doctrine,  with  its  allied  higher  branches  of  Evidences 
and  Philosophy  of  Religion,  forms  one  of  the  leading  features  of  this  Catholic  institution. 

For  the  benefit  of  younger  students  there  is  a Preparatory  Department,  in  which 
pupils  are  carefully  taught  Spelling,  Reading,  Writing,  and  the  elements  of  History, 
Geography,  Arithmetic  and  Composition. 

Strict  attention  is  paid  to  the  moral  and  religious  training  of  the  students. 

The  number  of  pupils  averages  six  hundred  For  catalogue  apply  to  the 

REV.  PRESIDENT. 


CONDUCTED  BY  THE  BROTHERS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  SCHOOLS. 

GRAND  BOULEVARD  AND  131st  STREET, 

NEW  YORK. 


The  College  occupies  an  elevated  position  on  the  east  bank  of  the 
Hudson  River,  and  commands  an  extensive  view  of  its  grandest  and 
most  picturesque  scenery. 

The  object  of  this  Institution  is  to  train  up  Christian  gentlemen 
and  good  citizens,  and,  by  a varied  course  of  study,  to  supply  the 
necessary  preparation  for  all  the  walks  of  life. 

It  is  organized  into  three  Departments — Collegiate,  Intermediate 
and  Primary,  each  embracing  several  grades  of  classes.  Thus  parents 
who  wish  their  children  to  enter  the  Institution  at  an  early  age  meet 
with  every  facility. 

By  its  system  of  affiliation  students  of  various  schools  and  acade- 
mies throughout  the  City  and  State  are  enabled  to  enter  the  College 
in  due  course,  and  attain  to  the  honors  of  graduation. 


COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES. 


IX 


CONDUCTED  BY  THE 

Xave^iaN  Brothers 


ARCHDIOCESE  OF  BALTIMORE. 

Carrollton,  near  Baltimore. 

XAVERIAN  BROTHERS’  NOVITIATE 30  Novices 

Bro.  Ca.ietan,  Director  of  Novices. 

MT.  ST.  JOSEPH’S  COLLEGE  125  Students 

Session  of  live  Months,  $110.  Bro.  Joseph,  Director. 

ST.  MARY’S  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOL 500  Students 

Bro.  Dominic,  Director. 


Georgetown  University, 

WASHINGTON  D.  C. 


BALTIMORE  CITY. 

ST.  JAMES’  HOME 90  Students 

Bro.  Bernardine,  Director. 

ST.  PATRICK’S  SCHOOL  250  Students 

Bro.  Boniface,  Director. 

*ST.  JOSEPH’S  SCHOOL 150  Students 

DIOCESE  OF  LOUISVILLE. 

Schools  in  the  City  of  Louisville.  Bro.  Stanislaus,  Director. 

ST.  XAVIER’S  INSTITUTE 250  Students 

ST.  PATRICK’S  SCHOOL 250  Students 

ST.  JOHN’S  SCHOOL 125  Students 

IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION  SCHOOL 175  Students 

CATHEDRAL  SCHOOL 125  Students 

DIOCESE  OF  RICHMOND. 

ST.  PETER’S  CATHEDRAL  MALE  ACADEMY 300  Students 

Bro.  Philip,  Director. 

ARCHDIOCESE  OF  BOSTON. 

ST.  PATRICK’S  SCHOOL,  Lowell 550  Students 

Bro.  Anoelus,  Director. 

ST.  MARY’S  SCHOOL,  Lawrence — 250  Students 

Bro.  Raymond,  Director. 


Total  number  of  Students  taught  by  the  Xaverian  Brothers  in  this  country,  3,140. 

Pro.  A L B X I VS,  Provincial. 


ST.  VINCENT’S 


CHPE  C I RHRDEHU,  7VYO. 

CHARTERED  IX  1H43. 

Commercial,  Classical  and  Theological  Departments. 

A prosperous  career  of  nearly  half  a century  is  a fair  guaranty  of  the  standing  of 
St.  Vincent’s  in  the  field  of  Catholic  education. 

Her  graduates  are  her  best  recommendation.  As  Bishops,  Priests,  Professional  and 
Business  men,  they  are  to  be  found  in  all  parts  of  this  great  country,  and  their  works 
reflect  honor  on  themselves  and  their  Alma  Mater. 

The  College  is  delightfully  situated  on  the  Mississippi  River,  150  miles  below  St.  Louis 
and  40  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio.  The  matchless  beauty  of  its  grounds  and 
densely  shaded  lawns,  sloping  to  the  Father  of  Waters,  form  the  most  charming  picture 
that  greets  the  river  tourist  anywhere  between  St.  Paul  and  New  Orleans.  The  winters 
are  mild  and  no  healthier  climate  can  be  found  in  the  United  States. 

Besides  the  facilities  for  travel  afforded  by  the  river,  “The  Cape’’  now  enjoys 
the  advantages  of  four  railroads,  and  two  others  are  soon  to  be  built.  This  makes  St.  Vin- 
cent's College  easy  of  access  at  all  seasons. 

For  catalogues,  address  Very  Rev.  F.  V.  NUCENT,  C.  M . , 

President. 


ST.  XAVIER  COLLEGE. 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 


The  Institution  known  at  present  as 
St.  Xavier  College  was  established  Octo- 
ber IT,  1831,  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  E.  I).  Fen- 
wick, D.  D.,  first  Bishop  of  Cincinnati, 
under  the  name  of  “The  Athenasum.’’ 
In  the  year  1840  it  was  transferred,  bv 
the  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  J.  B.  Purcell. 
1).  D.,  to  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  who  liavcconducted  it  ever  since 
under  the  title  first  mentioned.  It  was 
incorporated  by  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  State  in  1843.  In  1869  an  act  was 
passed  which  secures  to  the  Institution 
a perpetual  charter,  and  all  the  priv- 
ileges usually  granted  to  universities. 

Rev.  H.  A.  SCHAPMAN,  S.  J., 

President. 


LAW  DEPARTMENT 
Georgetown  Law  School. 

FOUNDED  1870. 
t or.  Sixth  and  F Sts.,  X.  \\. 


Unequaled  advantages 
for  the  study  of  American 
Jurisprudence. 

Apply  to  the  Secretary 
of  tlie  Legal  Faculty. 

S.  M.  YEATMAN, 
(Jcoryctown  Law  Buildiny. 


Department  ot  Arts  and  Sciences, 

GEORGETOWN  COLLEGE. 

FOUNDED  1789. 

Situated  on  Georgetown  Heights, 
overlooking  the  City  of  Washington 
and  the  Potomac  River. 

Collegiate  anti  Preparatory  courses 
in  the  Classics,  Modern  Languages  and 
Literature,  Mathematics,  the  Physical 
Sciences,  Philosophy,  etc. 

Apply  to  the  Rector, 

Eev.  J.  HAVENS  EICHAEDS,  S.  J. 

GEORGETOWN  COLLEGE, 

Best  Washington , D.  V. 


MEDICAL  DEPARTMENT 
Georgetown  Medical  School. 

FOUNDED  1851. 

No.  920  II  Street,  N.  IV. 

New  building,  the  most 
complete  and  perfect  pos- 
sible for  its  purposes. 

Exceptional  Clinical 
advantages. 

Apply  to  tlic  Dean  of  the 
Med  ical  Faculty . 

G.  L.  MAGRUDER,  M.  D„ 
SVi  Vermont  Are.,  N.  If. 


St.  Joseph  Commercial  College 

AND 

BOARDING  SCHOOL  FOR  BOYS  AND  YOUNG  MEN. 

ST.  JOSEPH,  MO. 


Conti uated  hy  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools. 

The  scholastic  year  begins  on  the  first.  Monday  of  September,  lssi).  The  course  of 
studies:  Primary,  Preparatory.  < 'ommereial  and  Scientific.  'Die  Commercial  and  S< lent  itie 
departments  embrace  Bookkeeping  in  actual  practice.  Business  Forms,  Commercial  Law, 
Rhetoric  and  Composition.  Literature,  Higher  Arithmetic,  Algebra,  Mensuration. 
Geometry,  Trigonometry,  Telegraphy,  Stenography  and  Type-writing. 

Board,  tuition,  washing,  bed  and  bedding,  per  session  of  five  months,  $100. 

For  further  particulars  address 


BRO.  MARCELLIAN,  President. 


Spring  Hill  College 

NEAR  MOBILE,  ALA. 

Under  the  Direction  of  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 

Established  in  1830. 

This  institution  is  beautifully  situated  in 
a.  A ery  healthy  locality,  overlooking  the  Bay 
of  Mobile.  System  of  education.  Classical 
and  Commercial,  complete  in  all  its 
blanches. 

French,  German  and  Spanish  taught 
without  extra  charge. 

The  health,  morals  and  comfort  of  the 
pupils  have  the  most  careful  attention.  A 
large  staff  of  teachers  permits  personal 
supervision  and  individual  training. 

The  session  will  re-open  Monday,  Sept.  9. 

For  particulars  apply  to 

Very  Itev.  JAS.  LONERGAN.  S.J., 

President. 


IMIUETTE  COLLEGE 

Cor.  State  ar\d  Teqtlj  Streets, 

MILWAUKEE,  W/S. 

Commercial,  Scientific  and 
Classical  Education. 

Apply  for  Catalogue  to 

Itev.  JOS.  0imiMKLS.VI.tJi,  S. 

President 


X 


COLLEGES  AND  UNIVERSITIES. 


ST.  JOSEPH’S 

•^•CObUEGEI^ 


DETROIT 


COLLEGE 

Detroit,  Mich, 


Under  the  Care  of  t^e  Jesuit  Fathers. 


SAN  JOSE,  CAL. 


This  College  was  established  in 
1884,  and  has  for  its  object  to  impart 
a higher  education  to  the  Catholic 
boys  of  San  Jose.  It  is  conducted  by 
the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
in  charge  of  St.  Joseph’s  Church. 

The  College  is  intended  for  day 
scholais  only. 

The  scholastic  year  consists  of  two 
sessions,  of  five  months  each.  The 
first  session  begins  on  the  first  Mon- 
day of  August;  the  second,  on  the 
second  of  January. 

The  number  of  pupils  averages 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

For  catalogue  apply  to  the 


ESTABLISHED  1877. 

IT  EMBRACES 

Classical, 
Scientific  and 
Commercial 
Courses. 

INCORPORATED  1881. 

Rev.  M.  P.  DOWLING,  S.  J., 

President. 


mnw 


urn 


REV.  B.  CALZIA,  S.  J., 

President. 


ST.  LOUIS 


UNIVERSITY 


Founded  1829,  incorporated  1832,  with  pow- 
ers to  confer  all  tlie  Academic  degrees. 
Conducted  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers. 

Daily  attendance.  Oct.,  1889,  410  students. 
courses: 

PREPARATORY, 

BUSINESS, 

ACADEMIC, 

COLLECI  ATE, 

SCIENTIFIC 
and  POST-GRADUATE. 

REV.  EDW.  J.  CLEESON,  S.  J., 

President. 


Conducted  by  the  Brothers  of  tiie 
Christian  Schools, 

Delaware  Avenue  and  Church  Street, 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. 

DEPARTM  ENTS! 

Collegiate,  Intermediate  and 
Primary. 
courses: 

Classical,  Scientific  and 
Commercial. 

Students  reside  in  the  Institution  or  at- 
tend as  Day  Scholars. 

TERMS  MODERATE. 

For  particulars  or  for  Prospectus  apply  to 


BROTHER  AELRED,  President. 


BEATTY,  P.  O., 

WESTMORELAND  COUNTY,  PA. 

This  institution,  under  the  direction  of  the  Bene- 
dictine Fathers,  is  situated  in  the  western  part  of 
Pennsylvania,  two  miles  from  Latrobe.  It  is  ren- 
dered easily  accessible  by  the  Pennsylvania  Central 
Railroad  passing  through  its  lands.  The  buildings 
can  accommodate  three  hundred  and  twenty  stu- 
dents. 

The  courses  of  studies  are:  the  Ecclesiastical,  the 
Classical  and  the  Commercial,  besides  an  Element- 
ary School  for  beginners.  Terms:  Board.  Tuition, 
Bedding  and  Washing,  per  annum,  $200.  Entrance 
Fee,  $5. 

French.  Italian,  Spanish,  Natural  Philosophy  and 
Chemistry.  Music.  Drawing  and  Painting,  Phonog- 
raphy and  Telegraphy,  form  extra  charges. 

For  further  information,  or  catalogue,  apply  to 

REV.  P.  LOUIS  HAAS,  O.S.B., 

Director. 


COLLEGEVItLE,  MON. 


Preparatory,  Commercial, 
Scientific,  Classical 

and  Theological. 

Tlie  Largest  Educational  Institution  in  t!:e  Northwest. 


This  University  is  situated  oil  a beautiful 
lake  in  the  healthiest  part  of  Minnesota. 
The  accommodations  are  unsurpassed.  It 
possesses  a staff  of 

EXPERIENCED  PROFESSORS, 

who  devote  t heir  life  to  oducat  ion. 

For  Catalogue,  etc.,  apply  to  tlie  Presi- 
dent or  to  the  Vice-President  of  St.  John's 
University,  Collegeville,  Minn. 

lit.  Rev.  Abbot  Alexius  Edelbroek,  O.  S.  If., 

President. 


ST.  jVIAHY’S 

College 

Belmont,  Gaston  Co.,  IV.  C. 

SCIENTIFIC, 

CLASSICAL 

^COMMERCIAL 

COURSES. 


For  further  Particulars,  apply  to 

Kcv. 

St.  Josepd’s  College, 

DUBUQUE,  IOWA. 


Philosophical,  dterary. 

Classical,  Scientific  ami 

Commercial  Education, 

Pall  Term  Commences  Wednesday,  Sept  4,  ’89. 


For  Catalogue,  giving  further  particular s, 
apply  to 

Very  Rev.  R.  RYAN,  V.  C. 


ST.  MARY’S,  KY. 


Classical,  Mathematical  and  Commercial, 


GORZAGA  GOLLEGE, 

SPOKANE  FALLS,  WASH. 

This  institution,  conducted  by  the  Fa- 
thers of  t lie  Society  of  Jesus,  is  beautifully 
situated  on  the. banks  of  the  Spokane  River, 
commanding'  au  extensive  view  of  the 
Spokane  Valley.  The  building  is  large  and 
commodious,  the  grounds  are  extensive, 
and  afford  ample  facilities  for  outside 
amusement  and  healthful  exercise.  The 
course  of  studies  comprises  the  Latin. 
Greek  and  English  languages;  < liristian 
Doctrine.  History,  Geography,  Matliamat- 
ics,  Penmanship  and  Bookkeeping.  Ger- 
man and  French  are  optional.  Board  and 
tuition  per  session  of  ten  months.  $25(1,  pay- 
able half-yearly  in  advance.  For  further 
information,  apply  to 

REV.  JAS.  REBNIANN,  S.  J.,  Pres’t. 


St.  Joseph’s 

Diocesan  College 

Teutopolis,  Effingham  Co.,  111. 

This  institution  is  conducted  by  Francis- 
can Fathers,  and  begins  its  28th  scholastic 
year  September  5th.  U-89. 

New  students  ought  to  present  them- 
selves September  4th.  Cat/inlics  only 
are  admitted.  Thecourseof  studies  iscla’s- 
sical,  commercial  and  preparatory. 

TERMS  FOR  FIVE  MONTHS: 

Board,  Tuition,  Bed  and  Bedding.  Wash- 
ing, Physician’s  Fee.  use  of  Library  and 
General  Stationery,  $83.25.  Entrance  Fee, 
$6.00.  Music,  Stenography  and  Type-writing 
extra.  For  particulars  apply  to 

Rev.  P.  Michael  Richahdt,  Rector. 


A first-class  Catholic  Institution,  situated 
in  the  country,  and  in  one  of  the  most 
healthful  sections  of  Kentucky. 

Conducted  bj  tlie  Fathers  of  the  Congre- 
gation of  tlie  Resurrection. 

Thorough  studies  in  all  College  branches. 

Extra  Business  Department  with  Stenog- 
raphy. Typewriting  and  Telegraphy. 

Write  for  Catalogue,  to 

Rev.  I).  FENXESSV,  C.  R..  President. 


CONZAGA  COLLEGE 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Conducted  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus. 

Tlie  course  embraces  English,  Latin, 
Greek,  French.  German.  Trigonometry, 
Geometry,  Arithmetic.  Algebra,  Chemistry, 
Elocution,  Bookkeeping,  Phonography,  etc. 
REV.  E.  A.  McGURK,  S.  J.,  President. 


St.  Mary's  College 

ST.  MARY  S,  KANSAS 


Conducted  by  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  em- 
braces all  tlie  branches  of  a complete  Clas- 
sical and  Commercial  education. 


BOARD,  TUITION,  ETC., 


Per  Term,  Five  Months,  - - - - $100 

For  further  particulars  apply  to  the 
President. 


Butler  and  Baltic  Streets, 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 

(Entrance,  41  Butler  Street). 

Conducted  Ijjj  the  Franciscan  Brothers. 

This  Institution,  empowered  by  Charter  to  con- 
fer degrees.  is  situated  in  a healthy,  retired  part 
of  the  city,  a short  distance  from  Prospect  Park. 

It  has  ample  accommodation  for  four  hundred 
students,  with  neat,  shaded  playgrounds  and 
gymnasium.  The  scholastic  year  begins  on  the 
tirst  Monday  in  September  and  closes  on  the  last 
Thursday  of  June.  The  course  of  studies  is 
Classical,  Scientiticand  Commercial. 

Hoard  and  Tuition,  per  annum,  payable  half 
yearly  in  advance.  $250.  Boys  under  15 years  of 
age.  $200.  Day  scholars,  per  quarter.  $8  to  $15. 

For  particulars  apply  to  tlie  president, 

BKOTI1KK  JKKOME.O.  S.  B. 


ST.  WARY’S 

COLLEGE, 

I i I , IC  t;  KV  STREET, 

MONTREAL.  CANADA. 

Under  the.  Direction  of  tlie  Jesuits.  ■ 

A complete  classical  education  given.  A 
special  course  prepares  younger  students 
for  higher  studies. 

REV.  A.  D.  TURCEON,  S.  J., 

Rector. 


ST.  IWEINRAD’S 

College  ait  Ecclesiastical  Seminary, 

St.  Metnrad,  Spencer  Co.,  1ml. 


Founded  in  tlie  year  1857,  and  conducted 
by  the  Benedictine  Fat  hers  of  St.  Meinrad’s 
Abbey.  Only  Catholic  students  are  ad- 
mitted; students  of  commercial  course, 
irrespective  of  creed,  rnay  apply  to  St. 
Meinrad’s  Commercial  Institute,  Jasper, 
Ind. 

Terms  at  both  institutions,  $180  per  an- 
num. 

For  particulars,  address 

REV.  BENEDICTINE  FATHERS, 

St.  Meinrad,  Ind. 


ItOYOliR  COLLEGE, 

Cor.  Calvert  and  Madison  Sts.,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Under  tlie  direction  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus. 

CLASSICAL  AND  SCIENTIFIC. 

Scholars  received  at  eleven  years  of  age 
and  upwards. 

FRANCIS  A.  SMITH,  S.  J.,  Pres't. 


St.  John’s  Academy, 

ALEXANDRIA,  VA. 

Many  Catholics  prefer  sending  their  sons 
to  a military  school,  but  wish  them  to  have 
Catholic  instruction  there.  A 11  such  should 
send  for  the  catalogue  of  St.  John’s  Acad- 
emy. Alexandria,  Va.,  six  miles  below 
Washington,  one  of  the  preparatories  of 
1 Georgetown  College.  Address 

RICHARD  L.  CARNE,  A.  M.,  Principal. 


COLLEGES  AND  A CA DEMIES. 


xi 


INSTITUTIONS  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


University  and  College 

OF  OTTAWA,  CANADA. 

FACULTIES  OF 

THEOLOGY, 

-PHILOSOPHY 

and  ARTS. 

Complete  Commercial  Course.  Fully 
Equipped  Laboratories. 

Terms,  per  year  (ten  mouths),  $180. 

Send  tor  Prospectus.  Address 

THE  PRESIDENT. 


St.  (Diehael’s  College 

TORONTO,  ONT. 

(In  affiliation  with  Toronto  University). 

Under  the  Special  Patronage  of  the  Archbishop  and  Directed 
by  the  Basilian  Fathers. 

Full  Classical,  Scientific  and 
Corqrr\ercial  Courses. 

Special  Courses  for  students  preparing 
for  University  matriculation  and  non-pro- 
fessional certificates. 

TERMS  WHEN  PAID  IN  ADVANCE: 

Board  and  Tuition,  $150  per  year.  Half 
Boarders,  $75.  Day  Pupils,  $28.00. 

For  further  particulars  apply  to 

Rev.  J.  R.  TEEFY,  President. 


Select  Boarding  School  for  Boys, 


C LASSO  N-ON-TH  E-SOUND, 


WESTCHESTER,  N.  Y. 

Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools. 

This  academy  is  delightfully  situated  on 
one  of  the  most  favored  sites  in  the  vicinity 
of  New  York.  The  course  of  instruction  is 
both  thorough  and  comprehensive. 

For  further  particulars  address 

BROTHER  AUGUST,  Director. 


St.  Mary's  Seminary, 

For  Boys  between  the  Ages  of 
4 and  12  Years. 

SETON  HILL,  GREENSBURG,  PA. 

In  Charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


THE  object  of  this  School  is  to  provide 
for  boys  of  tender  years  a place  where 
they  may  enjoy  the  comforts  of  home 
and  care  of  parents,  together  with  the  ben- 
ellls  of  salutary  discipline  and  careful 
teaching  in  the  usual  English  branches. 

Trrms— Board,  Tuition,  Washing,  Mend- 
ingand  Bedding,  per  session  of  ten  months, 
$150.  Music,  etc.,  extra  charge. 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


ST.  JOSEPH'S 


worRPmongtHB  negroes 


St.  Joseph’s  Seminary,  Baltimore,  Md. 

AND  THE 

Epiphany  Apostolic  College, 

HIGHLAND  PARK,  BALTIMORE,  MD. 

FOR  TRAINING  PRIESTS  FOR  THE  COLORED 
MISSIONS. 

7,000,000  Negroes  in  our  land;  almost 
alloutside  the  Church,  and  fully  4,000,000 
of  them  unbaptized. 

A double  duty-,  as  Catholics  and  Ameri- 
cans, lies  upon  us  to  support  these  Institu- 
tions, which  depend  on  alms  and  their  an- 
nual organ, 

THE  COLORED  HARVEST. 

Subscribe  to  it.  25  Cents'Yearly. 

V.  REV.  J.  R.  SLATTERY, 

St.  Joseph’s  Seminary,  Baltimore,  Md. 


INSTITUTIONS 

CONDUCTED  BY  THE 

Sisters  of  Our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel. 


Mother  House, 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. 

Two  Schools— one  for  whites  and  one  for 
colored  children  (females). 

Mount  Carmel  Convent, 

LAFAYETTE,  LA. 

Two  Scliools— one  for  girls  and  one  for  boys. 

Mount  Carmel  Convent, 

THIBODEAUX,  LA. 

Boarding  and  Day-  School  for  young  ladies. 

Mt.  Carmel  Female  Asylum, 

53  PIETY  ST. i 

new  Orleans,  la. 

Mount  Carmel  Convent, 

IBERIA,  LA. 

Two  Schools— one  for  white  young  ladies  and 
one  for  colored  children  (boys  and  girls ) . 

Mount  Carmel  Convent, 

PAINCOURTVILLE,  LA. 

For  white  girls. 

Mount  Carmel  Convent, 

WASHINGTON,  LA. 

Two  Schools — one  for  young  ladies  and  one 
for  boys  (white  exclusively). 

Mount  Carmel  Convent, 

ABBEVILLE,  LA. 

Boarding  and  Day  School  for  young 
ladies  (white). 

St.  John’s  Day  School, 

THREE  MILES  ABOVE 

THIBODEAUX,  LA. 

Boys  and  girls  (white). 

St.  Charles’  Day  School, 

FOUR  MILES  BELOW 

THIBODEAUX,  LA. 

Boys  and  girls  (white). 

Preparatory  School  for  Boys. 

Fayetteville,  Brown  Co.,  Ohio. 

For  boys  between  the  ages  of  8 and  12. 
Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity-.  Re- 
opens the  first  week  in  September.  Terms 
very  liberal.  For  particulars  and  terms 
apply  to  CedarGrove  Academy,  Price  Hill, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio:  Sisters  of  Charity,  Fay- 
etteville, Brown  County,  Ohio,  or  any  of  the 
Catholic  Clergy  of  Cincinnati. 


St.  Vincent’s  Male  Orphanage, 

St.  Genevieve's  Female  Orphanage, 
St.  Joseph’s  Hospital, 

Providence  Academy, 

NlkNCOUNtR.mSH. 

(Established  1856). 

Conducted  by-  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 

St.  Vincent's  Academy, 

muA  mu-k.msH 

St.  Mary’s  Hospital, 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


St.  Joseph's  Academy, 

SPRkCJJt.  msn. 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


Sacred  Heart  Hospital, 

SPORkRL  TMAS.mSVA 
Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


Providence  Hospital, 

StkTILL.  mSR. 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


Convent  of  Our  Lady  of  Seven  Dolors, 

TULMAP,  mSR. 

Industrial  School  for  Boys  and  Girls, 


GANISIUS  COLLEGE , 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y. 

Conducted  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

CLASSICAL  AND  COMMERCIAL  COURSES: 

Optional:  German,  French,  Shorthand, 
Typewriting  and  Instrumental  Music. 

Terms:  For  boarders,  per  annum,  $252; 
for  day  scholars,  per  annum,  $40. 

The  scholastic  year  begins  on  the  first 
Wednesday- of  September.  For  further  in- 
formation" apply  to 

REV.  J.  U.  HEINZLE,  S.  J., 

President  of  Canisius  College, 
Washington  St..  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


New  Ehoelherg  flUhey 

OF  THE 

ORDER  OF  ST.  BENEDICT, 

Conception , Nodaway  Co., 

MISSOURI. 

The  clergymen  of  the  Abbey-  are  engaged 
in  missionary  work  in  the  Diocese  of  Kan- 
sas City  and  St.  Joseph,  and  in  the  Vicar- 
iate-Apostolic  of  Dakota. 


St.  ^eglia’s  fieademy, 

For  Young  Ladies  and  Children. 

Under  the  Direction  of  the  Sisters  of 
the  Holy  Cross. 

601  East  Capitol  Street,  Washington,  D.  C, 


St.  Vincent's  Hospital 

POPTLkHQ,  OPA 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


St.  Mary's  Hospital, 

kSlOPAk.  OPA. 

Conducted  by-  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


Convent  of  Our  Lady  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 

COLNWAA.  msv\. 

An  Industrial  School  for  Indian  Girls, 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


Convent  of  Mary  Immaculate, 

NtAR  PkP,WWG,TOU,mSY\. 

An  Indian  School  for  Girls, 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


Providence  Academy, 

OUUViK,  msw. 

St.  Peter’s  Hospital, 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


St.  Joseph's  Academy, 

An  Indian  School  for  Boys  and  Girls, 


formal  School  Jlovitiate. 


Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools: 

"I  bless  this  work  (the  Brothers’  Novitiate 
of  Ammendale,  Md.)  with  all  my  heart, 
and  hope  that  the  reverend  clergy  will 
exercise  their  solicitude  in  encouraging 
vocations  to  the  Institute..”— His  Eminence 
Cardinal  Gibbons. 

“Co-workers  with  Christ  iu  saving  souls.” 
Blessed  J.  B.  De  La  Salle. 

“J  am  really  more  solicitous  for  the  multi- 
plication of  the  teaching  Orders  than  for 
the  multiplication  of  the  priesthood:  for 
education  is  to-day  the  great  work  that  the 
Church  lias  in  hand.” — Rt.  Rev.  J.  J.  Keane, 
Rector  of  C.  U.  


Boys  whose  conduct  gives  signs  of  voca- 
tion can  be  admitted  to  the  Preparatory 
Novitiate  annexed  to  the  Normal  School. 
The  Novitiate  has  ample  accommodations 
for  100  candidates.  It  contains  now  over  50 
young  men — novices  and  candidates. 

For  particulars  apply  to 

Rev.  Bro.  THEODORUS,  Directorof  Novices. 

St.  Francis’  Institute, 

OSAGE  MISSION,  KANSAS, 

With  a Full  Staff  of  Professors  and  a 
Thorough  System  of  Education. 


MHOta  las.  Qvatcnou  o?  ihi 

FATHERS  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF  JESUS. 


For  information  or  catalogue  address 

Tl\e  ReV.  Superior. 


Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity-,  j Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


CONVENTS  AND  ACADEMIES. 


xii 


Uf^SULilHE  AGfiDEmY, 

>7  K W ORLEANS, 


PRINCIPAL  BUILDING  FACING  THE  PARK. 


f ^ 
\%jp^3 


IIIS  Establishment,  for  the  education  of  Young  Ladies,  is  the  most  ancient  in  the  United  States,  having 
been  founded  in  1727,  under  the  auspices  of  Louis  XV,  King  of  France. 

Letters  still  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  monastery  serve  to  show  how  highly  some  of  our  most 
popular  Presidents,  as  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe  and  Jackson,  appreciated  the  services  rendered  society 
by  the  Ladies  of  the  Institution. 

The  magnificent  Convent,  to  which  the  Community  removed  in  1824,  is  situated  on  an  extensive 
plantation  about  two  miles  below  New  Orleans.  The  various  apartments  are  spacious,  well  ventilated  and  commodious,  and  the  play- 
grounds extensive. 

Among  other  advantages  the  system  of  teaching  offers  the  following  one,  viz. : The  French  and  English  languages  both  receive 
equal  attention,  being  taught  not  only  by  theory,  but  by  practice,  and  the  Young  Ladies  who  follow  the  course  of  Grammar  and 
Literature  adopted  in  the  Establishment  acquire  a thorough  knowledge  of  both  languages,  and  speak  them  with  fluency  and  elegance. 

Particular  attention  is  given  to  Music. 

For  further  particulars  apply  to 

THE  SUPERIORBSS. 


CONVENTS  AND  ACADEMIES. 


xiii 


ST.  MARY’S  ACADEMY. 


IN  its  30th  year  of  active  educational  work, 
St.  Mai-y’s  Academy  for  Young  Ladies 
has  justly  earned  the  reputation  of  being 
one  of  the  most  thoroughly  equipped  and 
successful  educational  institutions  in  the 
United  States.  The  Academy  buildings 
— large,  well  ventilated,  commodious,  heated  with 
steam,  supplied  with  hot  and  cold  water,  and  with 
fire-escapes,  are  beautifully  and  healthfully  located 
on  an  eminence  overlooking  the  picturesque  banks  of 
the  St.  Joseph  River,  in  the  highest  and  healthiest 
part  of  the  State.  All  the  branches  of  a thorough  En- 
glish and  Classical  education  are  taught  by  a Faculty  of  competent  teachers, 
forty-two  in  number.  French  and  German,  Plain  Sewing,  and  every  variety 


of  Fancy  Needlework,  are  taught  without  extra  charge.  Bookkeeping  in  regu- 
lar course;  Phonography  and  Typewriting  extra. 

THE  CONSERVATORY  OF  MUSIC 
is  conducted  on  the  plan  of  the  best  Classical  Conservatories  of  Europe. 
Three  instrumental  lessons  and  one  in  theory,  with  five  in  general  singing 
class,  weekly,  are  included  in  the  regular  pension;  extra  practice  pro  rata. 
THE  ART  DEPARTMENT 

embodies  the  principles  that  form  the  basis  of  instruction  in  the  best  Art 
Schools  of  Europe.  Pupils  may  pursue  a special  course  in  the  schools  of 
Painting  and  Music. 

MINIM  AND  PREPARATORY. 

Pupils  of  tender  age,  and  those  who  need  primary  training,  are  here  care- 
fully prepared  for  the  Academic  courses.  For  catalogue,  containing  full  in- 
formation, address  MOTHER  SUPERIOR, 

St.  Mary’s  Academy,  Notre  Dame,  Indiana. 


Mary’s  Young  Ladies’  Academy, 


MONROE, 


CONDUCTED  BY  THE  SISTERS,  SERVANTS  OF  THE  IMMACULATE  HEART  OF  MARY. 


This  Institution  occupies  ono  of  the  most  beautiful  and  healthful  locations  in  Monroe,  hem 
already  very  spacious,  have  been  enlarged  and  improved  during  the  last  " 
the  Inmates.  The  Institution  affords  every  ad  vantage  to  young  persons 
being  given  to  their  advancement  in  the  different  branches,  no  care  is  . 
society.  Difference  of  religion  is  no  obstacle  to  admission,  provided  the  pupils 
assiduously  watched  over  by  the  Sisters,  who  consider  themselves  conscientiously  bound  to 


surrounded  by  extensive  grounds  bordering  on  the  River  ^^j’)'I'1*‘0^^'Lm^healttPoi 


act  tlf^part  of  ^parent's  towards  thecliildre'n  entrusted  to  their  charge.  No  pupil  will  be 
received  without  satisfactory  references.  The  Scholastic  year  beginson  the  first  of  September  and  ends  with  the  Annual  Dtetribution;  this  is  iiviem  wo^session  ^o  a. 
monthseach.  The  course  of  instruction  embraces  Orthography,  Reading,  Elocution,  Grammar.  Epistolary  Correspondence.  Composition, ,1 .buna  1 . ■ .... 


with  the  Annual  Distribution;  this  is  divided  into  two  sessions  of  five 
Correspondence,  Composition.  Plain  and  Ornamental  Penmanship,  Geogra- 
phy, Physical  Geography,  Arithmetic,  Bookkeeping.  Algebra.  Geometry?  Sacred  and  Profane  History,  Civil  Government,  Rh®t°ric  mheorvand  Vi  unnosition ' < If  ’ Musi  c ’ I ) rawi  n g’ 
Zoology,  Philosophy,  (Chemistry,  LatiA,  French  And  German  Languages.  Instrumental  Music-Piano.  Organ  Harp.Gmtay  Vocal  Music .Theory  and  Compositaon  ot  Muau,  mwg 
Painting,  Wax  Flowers  and  Fruit,  Stenography.  Christ  in  n Doctrine  and  Sacred  History  are  commenced  m the  Primary  department - and .continued | throughout ; the _ course^ as  main 
and  Fancy  Needle  Work,  together  with  a knowledge  of  Domestic  Economy  are  necessary  for  the  completion  of  a young  f 'JT'E  ' 1 ‘ 1 Distributions  of  Premiums 

branches;  they  form  no  extra  charge.  Tables  of  Honor,  Monthly  Notes,  Bulletins,  Quarterly  Musical  Reviews,  Semi-Annual  Examinations,  and  Annual  Distributions  or  premiums 

are  among  the  various  means  used  to  excite  emulation. 

TERAIS:-BOA.RT>  A.NO  TUITION,  PER  SESSION,  4SGO.OO.  _ ^ 

„ „ .,  , . . mother  superior. 

For  further  particulars  apply  to 


CONVENTS  AND  ACADEMIES. 


xiv 


Monte  Maria  Academy, 

RICHMOND,  VA. 


ONTE  MARIA  ACADEMY  for  young  ladies,  or  Academy  of  the 
Visitation,  which  is  the  incorporate  name,  possesses  a most  delight- 
ful and  desirable  location.  On  the  retired  and  healthy  heights  of 
Richmond,  Va.,in  buildings  enlarged  to  admit  additional  applicants, 
the  pupils  enjoy  ample 
grounds,  picturesque 
views,  and  every  facility 
under  an  approved 
system  and  an  efficient 
corps  of  teachers,  for 
their  contentment  and 
progress. 

This  institution  is  un- 
der the  direction  of  the 
Nuns  of  the  Visitation, 
founded  in  1610  by  St. 

Francis  de  Sales,  Bishop 
and  Prince  of  Geneva. 

This  order  has  always 
stood  high  among  the 
best  educators  of  youth, 
both  in  Europe  and 
America. 

The  course  of  instruc- 
tion is  thorough;  com- 
mencing with  the  ele- 
ments of  a junior  educa- 
tion, it  includes  all  that 
is  useful  and  practical  in 
woman’s  intellectual  cul- 
ture: all  the  accomplish- 
ments suited  to  her  sex, 
and  not  excluding  a busi- 
ness course  if  desired, 
with  lessons  in  Stenog- 
raphy and  Typewrit- 
ing. 

The  beauty  of  this  situ- 
ation and  almost  endless 
variety  of  its  attractive 
surroundings,  render  it 
peculiarly  adapted  to  the 


purpose  of  a boarding  school  for  young  ladies,  whose  taste  is  thereby 
refined  and  brought  into  usefulness. 

Below,  in  the  distance,  run  the  waters  of  the  James,  tumbling  over  rocks 
in  foam  and  spray,  or,  winding  smoothly  in  varied  directions  through  the 

lowland.  There  are  in 
view  five  bridges,  on 
which  are  to  be  seen 
steam  cars,  vehicles  and 
persons  in  passing.  The 
varied  colors,  floating 
from  vessels  in  the 
stream  below,  lend  a new 
charm  and  teach  the 
youthful  observer  to  rec- 
ognize the  countries  in 
commerce  with  the 
capital  of  the  Old  Do- 
minion. 

Parents  and  guardians 
who  wish  to  secure  for 
young  ladies,  in  a first- 
class  boarding  school, 
the  benefits  of  a solid 
and  refined  education, 
with  maternal  supervis- 
ion over  their  health, 
morals  and  manners, 
will  have  no  reason  to 
regret  their  choice  of 
the  MONTE  MARIA 
ACADEMY. 

The  ladies,  charged 
with  the  duties  of  the 
Academy,  will  be  vigi- 
lant in  requiring,  by  mild, 
yet  efficient  means,  an 
exact  compliance  with 
every  rule  of  the  institu- 
tion and  the  forms  of 
polite  deportment.  For 
terms,  etc.,  apply  to 

Sister  Superior. 


ST.  PRY’S  BENEDICTINE  INSTITUTE, 

RICHMOND,  VA. 


(S* 


T.  MARY  S BENEDICTINE  INSTI- 
TUTE, Fourth  street,  between  Leigh 
and  Clay,  is,  as  its  name  implies,  con- 
ducted by  the  Benedictine  nuns,  who 
have  acquired  great  reputation  in  the 
management  and  instruction  of  those 
committed  to  their  care.  The  minds 
and  manners  of  many  of  the  most  es- 
teemed ladies  of  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try were  moulded  and  refined  by  these 
superior  educators,  twelve  of  whom, 
under  the  respected  Mother  Edith 
Vogel,  are  engaged  in  the  work. 

The  institution  is  pleasantly  situated  in  a quiet  part  of 
the  city.  Encouraged  by  the  liberal  patronage  it  has  enjoyed, 
a new  and  spacious  building  has  lately  been  erected  with 
all  the  improvements  and  facilities  of  the  times  for  the  com- 
fort and  better  education  of  the  pupils.  The  course  of  in- 
struction includes  every  useful  and  ornamental  branch  of 
education,  while  the  most  solicitous  attention  is  paid  to  the 
moral  and  polite  deportment  of  the  pupils. 

It  was  established  in  1875by  four  ladies  of  the  Benedictine 
order,  from  St.  Mary's,  Elk  county,  Pennsylvania,  three  of 
whom  still  remain,  one  of  them  the  sister  in  charge.  Others 
have  since  come  to  join  these.  About  200  pupils  are  now  en- 
rolled. Among  the  various  apartments  are  class  rooms, 
dormitories,  music  rooms,  infirmary,  and  chapel.  Attend- 
ance at  the  latter  is  not  obligatory. 

Terms  at  the  Institute  are  reasonable.  Special  arrangements  may  be  made  with  the 


MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


CONVENTS  AND  ACADEMIES. 


xv 


STT.  F 


Convent  and  Academy 


JOJLIBT , IBB. 


This  building  is  located  in  the  most  delightful  partof  Joliet,  a thriving  city  thirty-eight 
miles  southwest  of  Chicago.  The  Academy  was  chartered  as  an  Institution  of  learning 
by  the  laws  of  Illinois  in  1874.  The  course  embraces  the  various  branches  of  art  and  science. 
The  English  and  German  languages  receive  equal  attention,  and  care  is  taken  that  pupils 
have  practice  in  both.  Particular  care  is  bestowed  on  the  moral  and  religious  training  of 
the  young  ladies.  The  library  of  the  Academy  consists  of  choice  works  in  English  and 
German  Literature,  of  which  the  young  ladies  are  expected  to  avail  themselves  for  their 
own  culture  and  improvement.  The  scholastic  year  is  divided  into  two  sessions  of  five 
months  each;  the  first  begins  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  September,  the  second  on  the  3d 
of  February.  For  prospectus  and  catalogue  apply  to 


St,  Mary's  Academic  Institute 


St.  Mary  of  the  Woods,  Vigo  Co.,  Ind. 


This  noble  institution  was  founded  in  1840  by  the  Sisters  of  Providence,  from  Ruille, 
in  France.  The  little  band  which  undertook  the  arduous  task  of  opening  an  educational 
establishment  in  the  western  wilds  of  Indiana  was  composed  of  six  Sisters,  including 
Mother  Theodore,  the  foundress,  whose  name  is  held  in  veneration  by  all  who  had  the 
happiness  of  knowing  her.  Many  and  great  were  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome  in  a new 
and  uncivilized  country,  in  which  the  resources  were  few,  the  language,  customs  and  man- 
ners entirely  strange.  But  the  zealous  laborers,  aided  by  those  who  came  to  join  in  the 
good  work,  struggled  on,  and  before  the  lapse  of  many  years  St.  Mary’s  Institute  attained 
t lie  well  earned  reputation  of  being  a first-class  Academy.  The  present  Academic  building 
is  pronounced  by  all  who  visit  it  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in  the  Dnited  States.  It  is  located 
four  miles  west  of  Terre  Haute,  near  t lie  Indianapolis  & St.  Louis  Railroad.  It  is  spacious, 
well  ventilated,  convenient  and  furnished  with  all  modern  improvements.  It  is  liberally 
supplied  with  philosophical  and  astronomical  apparatus,  charts,  globes  and  everything 
conducive  to  the  attainment  of  knowledge.  The  pupils  have  access  to  a well  filled  library 
of  choice  and  standard  works.  Every  facility  is  afforded  for  attaining  proficiency  in  music, 
painting  in  oil  and  water  colors,  etc.  Special  attention  is  paid  to  forming  the  morals  and 
manners  of  the  pupils,  Simplicity  of  dress  is  enforced  by  rule.  The  extensive  grounds 
surrounding  the  Institute  are  beautifully  laid  out,  and  offer  every  inducement  to  the 
young  ladies  to  engage  in  healthful  exercise. 

Parents  may  rest  assured  that  pupils  ced  under  the  Sisters’  care  receive  all  the 
attention  that  kindness  can  suggest. 

For  further  information  address 


SISTER.  SUPERIOR, 


SISTER  SUPERIOR, 


St.  Fmncis  Academy. 


St.  Mary’s  Institute,  Vigo  Co.,  Ind. 


| WILKESBflRRE.  PR.  | 


Provincial  Motherhouse  and  Novitiate 
of  the 

Sisters  of  Christian  Charity 

FOR  THE 

Dnited  States  of  North  America. 


CONNECTED  WITH  IT 


An  Educational  Institution 
for  Young-  tadfes. 


There  are  Forty-six  Branch  Houses 
scattered  over  various  States  and  Dioceses, 
having  charge  of  Parochial  Schools. 


ST.  CIiARA’S 

ACADEMY, 

Sinsinawa  Mound,  Grant  Co.,  Wis. 

This  old  and  well  known  institu- 
tion, one  of  the  finest  of  its  kind  in  the 
Northwest,  is  conducted  by  the  Sis- 
ters of  St.  Dominic,  the  mother- 
house  of  the  order  in  the  United 
States  being  connected  with  the 
academy. 

For  years  it  has  received  the  pat- 
ronage of  the  neighboringstates,  and 
almost  every  state  and  territory  has 
had  representatives  in  attendance  at 
different  times  in  the  history  of  the 
institution. 

The  course  of  instruction  is  unsur- 
passed in  thoroughness,  and  affords 
young  ladies  every  facility  for  an  ex- 
cellent and  accomplished  education. 

The  academy  occupies  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  picturesque  sites 
in  the  state,  and  its  elevated  situa- 
tion, together  with  an  excellent  sys- 
tem of  water-works  and  sewerage, 
secures  perfect  healthfulness.  The 
school  year  begins  the  first  Monday 
in  September.  Telephonic  connec- 
tions with  Dubuque,  Iowa,  and  Ga- 
lena, 111. 

For  catalogue  and  particulars,  ad- 
dress MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


St.  Joseph’s  Academy 

For  Young-  Toadies, 

SETON  HILL,  GREENSBURG,  PA. 

In  Charge  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity. 


'T'HIS  Academy,  chartered  with  rights  and 
privileges  equal  to  the  first  Academic 
Institutions  in  the  State,  is  situated  on 
the  highest  point  of  a tract  of  land  contain- 
ing 200  acres,  in  view  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Central  Railroad,  thirty  miles  east  of  Pitts- 
burgh. and  one-fourtli  of  a mile  from 
G reensburg  station. 

The  plan  of  instruction  is  systematic  and 
thorough,  embracing  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired for  the  highest  culture.  Besides  the 
Graduating  Department,  a Special  Course 
meets  the  wants  of  young  ladies  who,  not 
wishing  to go  through  the  course  of  gradua- 
tion, are  anxious  to  obtain  a good  practical 
education. 

Domestic  Economy  is  taught  in  each 
Department,  and  opportunities  for  Culi- 
nary Practice  are  afforded  young  ladies  who 
wish  to  become  skilled  in  housekeeping. 

Terms— Board,  Tuition,  Bed  and  Bedding, 
per  year,  $200.  The  Languages,  Music, 
Drawing,  Painting,  Shorthand  and  Type 
Writing,  extra  charge. 

AIOTIIEK  SUPERIOR. 


Villa  Angela,  Nottingham,  0. 


THE  situation  of  the  Boarding  School  for 
Young  Ladies  is  beautiful  and  health- 
A ful.  Course  of  studies  thorough,  em- 
bracing all  the  branches  of  a solid  and 
refined  education.  There  is  also  a Minim 
and  .1  unior  Department  for  accommodation 
of  children  between  ages  of  7 and  14. 

Terms— $130  per  annum. 

For  Prospectus,  address 

Mother  Superior,  Ursulise  Audemy,  Clevelaad,  or 
Mother  MAE?  LOUIS,  Villa  Angela,  Nottingham,  0. 


ST.  MARY’S 

ACADEMY, 

(Established  at  The  Dalles, 
Oregon,  1864.) 

CONDUCTED  BY  THE  SISTERS  OF 
THE  MOST  HOLY'  NAMES  OF 
JESUS  AND  MARY'. 

This  Institution  offers  every  advantage 
for  home  and  social  comfort.  The  course 
of  study  comprises  all  the  branches  of  a 
thorough  English  education.  Special  atten- 
tion paid  to  the  art  s and  foreign  languages. 

Tlie  primary  object  of  the  Institution  is 
to  instill  intothe  minds  of  the  youngalaud- 
able  emulation,  to  form  their  hearts  to  vir- 
tue, to  fit  them  to  be  true  and  noble  women 
and  ornaments  to  society. 


Bethlehem 


m Academy, 

Faribault,  Minnesota, 

CONDUCTED  BY  THE  DOMINICAN  SISTERS. 

Affords  young  ladies  every  facility  for  a 
solid  and  refined  education. 

For  particulars,  address  the 

SUPERIORESS. 


XVI 


CONVENTS  AND  ACADEMIES. 


Loretto  Academy 


Loretto  Academy 

BOARDING  AND  DAY  SCHOOL  FOR  YOUNG  LADIES. 


FOR  YOUNG  LADIES  AND  MISSES, 

FLORISSANT,  ST.  LOUIS  COUNTY,  MO. 


ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


This  Academy,  erected  in  1874,  is  in  one  of  the  best  portions  of  St.  Louis. 
The  building  is  thoroughly  ventilated,  heated  by  steam,  and  furnished 
throughout  with  all  the  modern  improvements. 

The  course  of  studies  is  comprehensive  and  well  arranged,  and  aims  at 
a solid,  practical  and  refined  education. 

For  full  particulars  apply  for  catalogue  to 


A home-like  Boarding-School  of  highest  grade.  Literature,  Art,  Music  and 
Elocution.  Sixteen  miles  from  St.  touis,  on  St.  Louis  Cable  & Western  Railway. 
Three  daily  trains.  For  circular,  address 

MOTHER.  SUPERIOR. 


MOTHER  SUPERIOR, 

Loretto  Academy, 

Cor.  Jefferson  Ave.  and  Pine  St.,  ST.  LOUIS,  MO. 


St.  Hilary’s  of  the  Springs 


“THIS  Academy,  conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic,  is 
situated  about  three  miles  east  of  the  city  of  Columbus, 
Ohio,  on  a lovely  eminence  commanding  an  extensive  view  of  the 
surrounding  country.  The  course  of  study  embraces  all  the 
branches  that  are  necessary  to  the  acquisition  of  a solid  and 
refined  education. 

The  scholastic  year  is  divided  into  two  sessions  of  five  months 
each,  beginning  respectively  on  the  first  Monday  in  September 
and  the  first  Monday  in  February. 

Parents  and  guardians  may  rest  assured  that  every  attention 
will  be  given  to  the  health  and  comfort  of  those  placed  under  the 
care  of  the  Sisters.  Prospectus  sent  on  application  to 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR, 

St.  Mary’s  of  the  Springs,  Shepard  P.  0.,  Franklin  Co.,  Ohio. 


ST.  AGJ'iES  ACflDEmY, 

FOR  YOUNG  LADIES. 


ucited  f 3 v'  the  Domirticem  Sisters. 


This  Institution  is  situated  on  Vance  Street,  and  is  one  of  the  Most  Beautiful  and 
Healthy  locations  of  Memphis,  Tenn.  • 

Catalogues  containing  all  necessary  information  may  be  obtained  by  addressing 

THE  MOTHER  SUPERIOR  OF  ST.  AGNES  ACADEMY,  Memphis,  Tenn. 


ST.  GERTRUDE’S  ACADEMY 

RIO  VISTA,  SOLANO  CO.,  CAL. 

This  Academy  for  youngladies,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  is  beauti- 
fully situated  on  an  eminence  in  the  pleas- 
ant ana  accessible  town  of  Rio  Vista.  The 
location  is  remarkably  healthy,  the  building 
new  and  well  furnished  with  all  that  con- 
tributes to  the  health  and  comfort  of  the 
pupils.  The  pleasure  grounds  are  extensive 
and  well  adapted  to  healthful  exercise. 
Pupils  of  all  persuasions  will  be  equally 
received.  The  course  of  instruction  com- 
bines all  the  useful  branches  of  a solid  edu- 
cation. 

Pupils  received  at  any  time  during  the 
term,  and  will  be  charged  from  day  of 
entrance. 

The  scholastic  year  is  divided  into  two 
sessions  of  five  months  each:  the  first  to 
commence  January  and  ending  in  June. 

TERMS  PER  SESSION,  PAYABLE  IN  ADVANCE. 

BOARDING  PUPILS. 

Board  and  Tuition,  with  use  of  bed- 


ding,   $112  00 

Instrumental  Music,  - - - 25  00 

Washing, 20  00 

Vocal  Music  (private  lessons),  - - 10  (X) 


Singing  in  Class,  Drawing,  French,  Plain 
and  Ornamental  Needlework  do  not  form 


extra  charges. 

DAY  ACADEMY. 

Terms  per  month,  in  advance: 

Senior  Class, $3  00 

Intermediate  Class,  - - - - 2 00 

Primary  Class, 1 00 

Music,  Piano  lessons,  with  use  of  in- 
strument,   2 00 

Music,  Guitar  lessons,  with  use  of  in- 
strument,   2 00 


No  entrance  fee  required.  For  further 
information  apply  to 

M.  M.  CAMILLUS,  Superioress. 


ST.  MARY’S 

Institute, 

QUINCY,  I I.U. 

ST.  MARY'S 

Day  ^Boarding  School, 

Conducted  by  the  School  Sisters  of  Notre 
Dame,  was  founued  in  1863  and 
chartered  i„  1873. 


The  system  of  education  is  founded  on 
the  plan  of  the  best  schools  in  the  country, 
and  the  thorough  work  done  in  the  Scien- 
tific, Musical  and  Art  Departments 
lias  placed  St.  Mary’s  Institute  among  the 
leading  Female  Academies  in  the  State 
of  Illinois. 


St.  Gatoine’s 

ACADEMY, 

AND 

Normal  School  for  Catholic  Yonng  Ladies, 


W-  St.  Joseph’s  Academy, 

St.  Joseph’s,  Daviess  Co.,  Ky. 


This  Academy  is  beautifully  situated  in 
the  country,  and  affords  a pleasant  home 
for  young  ladies  who  wish  to  pursue  a 
thorough  fundamental,  scientific  and  liter- 
ary education. 

Board,  Tuition,  Bed  and  Washing,  per 
session,  $60.  Music,  extra  charges. 

For  further  particular's,  address 

URSULINE  SISTERS. 


Re-opens  the  First  Monday  in  September. 

This  academy  and  normal  school,  located 
in  Racine,  Wis.,  is  under  the  supervision  of 
the  Sisters  of  St.  Dominic:  it  possesses 
every  advantage  for  a thorough  education. 

In  the  Normal  Department  special  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  Church  Music,  which  branch 
may  ho  separately  pursued  if  desired. 

The  building  is  heated  by  steam  and  pro- 
vided with  all  modern  improvements.  The 
beautiful  grounds  are  extensive  and  afford 
ample  opportunity  for  healthful  exercise 
and  recreation . 

For  catalogue  and  further  particulars, 
apply  to 

“ DIRECTRESS," 

St.  Catharine's  Academy,  Racine,  Wis. 


CONVENTS  AND  ACADEMIES. 


St.  Mary’s  Academy, 


WINDSOR,  ONT. 


This  institution  is  pleasantly  located  in  the  town  of  Windsor,  opposite  Detroit,  and 
combines  in  its  system  of  education  gTeat  facilities  for  acquiring-  the  Frencli  language, 
with  thoroughness  in  the  rudimental  as  well  as  the  higher  English  branches.  Terms  (pay- 
able half-yearly  in  advance) : board  and  tuition  in  French  and  English,  per  annum,  $100. 

For  further  particulars,  address 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


Academy 


IMMACULATE 


Oldenburg,  Franklin  Co.,  Ind. 


This  prosperous  Institution,  under 
the  charge  of  the 

SISTERS  OF  ST.  FRANCIS. 


WEST  RITTENHOUSE  SQUARE, 

19th  Street,  below  Walnut  Street, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


This  well  known  establishment,  intended 
both  for  Boarders  and  Day  Scholars,  pos- 
sesses every  attraction,  being  located  in  the 
most  delightful  section  of  the  city,  opposite 
West  Rittenhouse  Square.  It  is  easy  of 
access  from  the  various  passenger  railways, 
which  approach  it  on  every  side;  and  the 
building  is  admirably  adapted  to  all  the  re- 
quirements of  a Boarding  and  Day  School. 
The  Course  of  Studies  is  thorough,  embrac- 
ing all  the  branches  requisite  for  a solid 
and  refined  education. 

Tlie  Thirty-Third.  Year  of  the 
Academy  opens  Sept.  9tl». 

For  further  particulars  apply  to  the 
Sister  Superior  of  the  Academy. 


Boarding  and  Day  School 

FOR 

Young  Ladies  and  Little  Girls. 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph. 


Loretto  Academy 

NIAGARA  FALLS,  ONT. 

(Branch  of  “ Die  Englische  Frau- 
lein,”  Munich,  Bavaria;  St.  Mary’s 
Convent,  “Mickle-Gate-Bar,”  York, 
Eng.;  “ Loretto  Abbey.”  Katlifarn- 
hain,  Dublin,  Ireland.) 

This  Institution,  overlooking  the  Falls  on 
the  Canadian  Side,  cannot  be  equaled  for 
the  sublime  view  it  affords  of  the  Falls, 
Rapids  and  Islands  in  the  vicinity. 

For  particulars  address 

LADY  SUPERIOR. 


TOLEDO,  OHIO. 


This  Institution,  incorporated  with  the 
privilege  of  a College,  is  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the 

URSULINE  NUNS. 

Mt.  St  Joseph  Academy 

CHESTNUT  HILL,  PHILA. 


Affords  the  highest  educational  advantages 
at  uncommonly  low  rates.  The  course  of 
studies  is  comprehensive,  and  its  aim  is  to 
impart  a thoroughly  solid  and  refined  edu- 
cation. 

For  further  particulars,  please  address 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


kopetto  Abbey 

Wellington  Place,  Toronto,  Canada,  a branch  of  Loretto 
Abbey,  Rathfarnham,  Dublin,  Ireland.  Founded  from 
St.  Mary's  Convent,  Michlegate  Bar,  York,  England. 
A Seminary  for  the  education  of  young  ladies,  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  ladies  of  Loretto,  situated 
in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  having  the  full  benefit 
of  the  pure  air  of  the  lake,  and  the  pleasant  shade  of 
grand  old  trees,  covering  several  acres.  The  course  of 
instruction  in  this  establishment  comprises  every 
branch  suitable  to  the  education  of  young  ladies. 
They  receive  tuition  in  the 

ENCLISH,  FRENCH,  ITALIAN,  CER- 
MAN  AND  LATIN  LANCUACES, 

Harp,  Piano,  Organ,  Violin  and  Guitar;  Harmony, 
Drawing,  Embroidery,  Plain  and  Fancy  Needlework, 
Culinary  Art  and  Domestic  Economy.  Frequent  pub- 
lic instructions  are  given  in  politeness  and  etiquette. 
Music  in  its  various  branches  is  assiduously  cultivated. 
The  Scientific,  Vocal  and  Instrumental  Departments 
are  taught  by  accomplished  and  experienced  teachers, 
whose  system  is  modeled  on  that  of  the  European 
conservatories.  Bookkeeping,  Stenography  and  Type- 
writing are  taught  to  any  of  the  pupils  who  may  desire 
to  learn  these  branches.  Tuition  in  Vocal  and  Instru- 
mental Music,  Painting,  Violin,  Guitar  and  Organ  may 
be  had  from  professors  if  desired. 


Academy 

FOR 

YOUNG  LiflDIES, 

COHOVJGItO  fttt  UbSUUNB  UuUS. 

150th  St.  ami  Westchester  Ave., 

New  yorR. 


Studies  will  be  resumed  on  tbe  first 
Wednesday  of  September. 

For  particulars,  apply  to 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR, 

Ursuline  Academy,  150th  St.,  N.  Y. 


St.  Joseph's  Academy 

COR.  OF  ST.  PHILIP  AND  GALVEZ  STS., 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. 

This  Academy,  founded  in  1859,  and  incor- 
orated  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of 
ouisiana  in  1868,  is  conducted  by  the  Sisters 
of  St.  Joseph,  whose  efficient  work  in  t lie 
cause  of  education  is  extensively  known 
and  appreciated. 

The  aim  of  this  institution  is  to  give  a 
sound  mental  and  moral  training  to  its 
pupils,  hence  the  course  of  studies  is  com- 
prehensive and  judiciously  arranged. 

Board  and  Tuition,  Washing  and  Bedding, 
per  session  of  ten  months,  $200. 

For  further  particulars,  address  the 

SISTER  SUPERIOR. 


ST.  PAUL,  MINN. 


PUflT  ST.  JOSEPH, 

RUTLAND,  VT. 

This  institution,  conducted  by  the  Sisters 
of  St.  Joseph,  will  re-open  on  Monday,  Sept. 
2nd.  The  very  healthy  site  of  this  academy, 
situated  near  the  Green  Mountains,  is  an 
importantrecommendation.  Thecourse of 
study  is  thorough,  embracing  all  the 
branches  of  a solid  and  refined  education. 

Particular  attention  paid  to  vocal  and 
instrumental  music.  French,  gratis.  Every 
variety  of  fancy  work  taught  without  ad- 
ditional charge.  Pupils  admitted  at  any 
time  in  the  session.  Terms  moderate. 

For  further  particulars  apply  to 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph. 


This  institution  offers  exceptional  facili- 
ties for  the  acquisition  of  a thorough  Eng- 
lish education. 

Special  students  in  Music  will  find  the 
course  and  methods  pursued  very  conducive 
to  rapid  advancement.  Full  particulars  in 
catalogue,  for  which  apply  to 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


College  of  Notre  Dame 

MARYSVILLE,  CAL. 

Founded  1856. 

Select  Boarding  and  Day  School  for  Young 
Ladies.  For  particulars  address 

THE  LADY  SUPERIOR. 
Good  references  required. 


ST.  JOSEPH’S 


rcadejviy. 


Ursuline  Convent 

OF  THE 

Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus. 


xvii 


St.  Joseph’s  Academy 

EMMITSBURG,  MD. 


This  institution  for  the  education  of  young 
ladies  was  established  in  1809,  by  Mrs.  E.  A . 
Seton,  well  known  in  the  religious  world 
as  the  foundress  of  the  Community  of  Sis- 
ters of  Charity  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
incorporated  in  1816. 

The  property,  comprising  400  acres,  is  situ- 
ated in  a lovely  valley  at  the  base  of  the 
Blue  Ridge;  the  locality  is  unsurpassed  for 
beauty  of  scenery  and  salubrity  of  climate, 
as  well  as  for  the  advantages  of  rural  life 
for  study  and  physical  well-being. 

For  terms,  etc.,  address 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


St.  Joseph’s  Academy 

FOR  YOUNG  LADIES. 

CONDUCTED  BY  THE  SISTERS  OF  ST.  JOSEPH. 


AfeSIierrystown,  Adams  Co.,  Pei. 


Board  and  Tuition,  per  Session,  $75.00. 

Music,  Vocal  and  Instrumental,  Drawing, 
Painting  and  Languages,  extra  charges, 
French  excepted. 

A Separate  Department  for  tlie 

Blind,  taught  by  a thoroughly  competent 
member  of  tlie  community,  a graduate  of 
the  Philadelphia  Institution  for  the  Blind, 
who  had  several  years’  experience  as  a 
teacher  there. 


MT.  DE  SALES 


CA.  TOYS  1 T TEE,  AID. 


The  course  of  instruction  embraces  all 
the  usual  requisites  of  a thorough  and 
accomplished  education.  The  unrivaled 
healthiness  of  the  locality  offers  peculiar 
advantages  to  pupils  of  a delicate  constitu- 
tion. 

TERMS  REASONABLE. 


ACADEMY 

OF 

Our  Lady  of  Light, 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Loretto. 

SANTA  FE,  NEW  MEXICO. 

This  Academy,  founded  in  1852  by  Most 
Rev.  J.  B.  Lamy,  is  situated  in  a most  desir- 
able location  in  the  city  of  Santa  Fe,  so  noted 
for  its  healthful  and  agreeable  climate. 

The  Sisters  in  charge  of  tlie  institution 
leave  nothing  undone  in  imparting  to  tbe 
children  confided  to  their  care  a thorough 
and  refined  education. 

For  further  particulars,  address 
MOTHER  FRANCISCA  LAMY,  Superior. 


ST.  BENEDICT’S  ACADEMY, 

ST.  JOSEPH,  MINN., 

Offers  to  young  ladies  every  advantage  for 
obtaining  a useful  and  thorough  education. 

Board  and  tuition,  including  instruction 
in  English  and  German,  Plain  Needlework, 
Embroidery,  and  Vocal  Music,  $75.00  per 
session  of  five  months.  Music,  Painting, 
Drawing,  etc.,  also  the  Polish  and  French 
languages,  form  extra  charges.  Lessons  in 
the  Culinary  Department  are  given  twice 
a week  to  such  as  desire  to  acquire  pro- 
ficiency in  this  art. 

Classes  resumed  September  5tli,  1888. 

For  catalogue,  etc.,  apply  to 

SR.  DIRECTRESS,  O.  S.  B., 

St.  Joseph,  Minn. 


Academy  of  the  Sacred  Heart 

DETROIT,  MICH. 

Tlie  Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart  have  two 
Academies  in  Detroit.  The  Boarding  School 
is  at  Grosse  Point,  nine  miles  from  tlie  city, 
on  Lake  St.  Claire ; the  Day  School  is  at  322 
Jefferson  Ave.  The  plan  of  these  institu- 
tions unites  every  advantage  that  can  con- 
tribute to  a solid  and  refined  education. 


CONVENTS  AND  MISCELLANEOUS  ADVERTISEMENTS. 


Aeademy  of  the  Sacred 

KENWOOD  (near  Albany),  NEW  YORK. 

The  Sacred  Heart  Academy  is  situated  about  two  miles  from  the  city  of  Albany.  The  site  is  elevated, 
healthful  and  picturesque  and  the  grounds  for  recreation  extensive  and  varied.  The  plan  of  education  is 
well  adapted  to  impart  to  the  mind  a solid  and  refined  scholarship,  while  every  attention  is  paid  to  pro- 
priety of  deportment  and  personal  neatness.  . . . _ , ....  ,.T  _ ..  

TERMS  FOR  SCHOLASTIC  YEAR— For  Board.  Tuition  m English  and  French.  Use  of  Books.  Stationery. 
Physician's  Fees’  Entrance  Fee.  W ashing.  Use  of  Library,  Use  of  Bed  and  Furniture.  $235.  First  Session, 
ber;  second  session,  1st  of  February.  References  required. 


first  Wednesday  of  September; 

For  further  particulars  apply  to  the 


LADY  SUPERIOR,  at  Kenwood. 


ACADEMY  OF  THE  SACRED  HEART, 

Eden  Hall,  Torresdale,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

This  institution,  about  ten  miles  from  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Ladies  of  the  Sacred  Heart,  possesses  every 
advantage  that  parents  can  desire  for  the  men- 
tal and  physical  improvement  of  their  children. 
Board,  with  tuition  in  English  and  French,  per 
annum,  $250. 

For  further  particulars  apply  to  or  address  the 
LADY  SUPERIOR,  Eden  Hall,  Torresdale,  Pa. 


nCADEJVlY  — 

^ ^ OF  THE 

-'•-Sacred  j-Ieart, 


Academy  of  Notre  Dame, 

READING,  OHIO. 

Chartered,  1859 

This  academy,  nine  miles  north  of  Cincin- 
nati, near  Reading-,  is  of  easy  access,  being 
within  a few  minutes’  ride  or  walk  of  sev- 
eral railroads,  and  affords  every  conven- 
ience conducive  to  the  health  and  comfort 
of  the  young  ladies.  The  extensive  grounds 
have  been  beautifully  laid  out  and  orna- 
mented; and  the  healthfulnessof  theloeal- 


VISITATION  ACADEMY, 

WHITE  SULPHUR,  SCOTT  CO.,  KY. 

This  establishment,  conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  the 
Visitation,  is  pleasantly  situated  one  mile  from 
White  Sulphur  Springs.  In  addition  to  the  branches 
belongingto  a thorough  English  course,  the  French 
and  German  languages.  Vocal  and  Instrumental 
Music,  and  all  kinds  of  Plain  and  Ornamental 
Needlework  are  taught. 

Board  and  Tuition,  Washing,  Mending,  Bed  and 
Bedding,  per  Session,  - - - $75.00 


W.  G.  ROBINSON, 


N e w Y orlc. 


'T'HIS  Academy  is  located  near  the  Cen- 

I tral  Park,  in  the  vicinities  of  Harlem 
and  Manhattanville.  The  site  is  ele- 
vated, healthy  and  beautiful.  The  grounds 
for  recreation  and  promenade  are  neat  and 
spacious,  surrounded  by  shrubbery,  and 
pleasantly  shaded  by  grove  and  forest  trees. 

The  plan  of  instruction  adopted  iu  this 
institution  unites  every  advantage  which 
can  contribute  to  an  education  at  once 
solid  and  refined. 

Particular  attention,  is  paid  to  propriety 
of  deportment  and  personal  neatness,  while 
the  health  of  the  pupils  is  an  object  of  con- 
stant solicitude. 

Difference  of  religion  is  no  obstacle  to 
the  admission  of  young  ladies,  provided 
they  be  willing  to  conform  to  the  general 
regulations  of  the  school. 

Board  and  Tuition,  $300  per  annum, 


ity.  its  pure  and  bracing  atmosphere,  the 
wholesome  diet  and  regular  course  of  life 
pursued  in  the  institution,  have  hitherto, 
through  the  blessing  of  God.  produced 
most  gratifying  results,  as  regards  the 
health  of  the  pupils. 


Established  in  1854.  Chartered  in  1865. 

LlotFe  Dame  Academy 

mo  LutRMo.  \astnutt  tORYouno  Luous. 


It  is  situated  two  mileswestof  Boston,  and 
is  remarkable  for  the  beauty  and  healthful- 
ness of  its  location.  All  modern  conven- 
iences for  heat,  light  and  health. 

Classic  and  English  Courses. 

Sisters  of  notre  dame. 


Established  A.  1).  1859. 

ST.  MARY’S  ACADEMY, 

PORTLAND,  ORE. 

Under  the  Direction  of  the  Sisters  of  the 
Holy  Names  of  Jesus  and  Mary. 

The  object  of  this  Institution  is  to  impart 
to  Young  Ladies  a Christian  education, 
solid,  useful  and  cultured— in  a word,  to 
teach  them  all  that  is  taught  in  the  most 
approved  schools. 


ARCHITECT, 

Boons  62  mo  63, 

New  Houseman  Building, 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICH. 

Architect  of  St.  John’s  Orphan  Asylum,, 
Episcopal  Residence,  St.  Andrew's  Cathe- 
dral, Home  for  the  Aged,  St.  J ames’  Church, 
Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 

GORDON  W.  LLOYD, 

ARCHITECT, 

34  Fort  St..  West, 


JOHN  FINN, 

Gontractor^Builder, 

VAsoh  'Now.  l Stcc\m.vi. 

OFFICE  : 

91  Griswold  Street, 

DETROIT,  MICH. 

Residence , 8?  Garfichl  Ave.  TELEPHONE  No.  42. 


SPR0UL  & McGURRIN, 

CONTRACTORS  FOR 

PLUMBING 

Steam  and  Hot  Water  Heating, 

Hot  Air  Furnaces, 

Complete  Line  of  Mantels,  Grates  and 
Tiling,  Gas  Fixtures.  Etr. 

WHOLESALE  AND  RETAIL  DEALERS  IN 

Plumbers’  Supplies. 

184  East  Fulton  St.,  Head  of  Monroe, 
Branch  Store— 21  Scribner  St.,  West  Side. 

(Jraiyd  Rapids, /Hie!?. 

Plans  and  Estimates  for  the  above  Work  furnished 
and  Correspondence  solicited. 


ANTHONY  0SEB0LD 

Manufacturer  of 

Church  Furniture 

SCULPTOR  AND  CARVER. 


7YOTADE7VVV 

OF  THE 

Benedictine  Sisters, 

Conception,  Nodaway  Co., 

MISSOURI. 


This  institution  Is  pleasantly  situated, 
and  offers  to  young  ladies  every  advantage 
for  obtaining  a thorough  education. 

For  further  information,  address 

MOTHER  SUPERIOR, 

Academy  of  the  Benedictine  Sisters, 

CONCEPTION,  MO. 


No.  529  Fifth  Avenue 


LOUISVILLE,  KY. 

The  oldest  and  best  known  Educational  Insti- 
tution for  young  ladies  in  the  city. 


Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity  of  Nazareth. 

Its  reputation  well  sustained  for 
sixty  years.  Proficiency  secured  in 
every  department.  Music,  both  in- 
strumental and  vocal,  carefully 
taught.  For  further  particulars, 
address 

THE  SISTER  SUPERIOR. 


Mother  House  in  the  United  States 

OF  THE 

Sisters  of  Notre  Dame 

(OF  NAMUR,  BELGIUM), 

CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 


There  are  thirty  houses  in  this  Province, 
with  over  twenty-two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred (22,500)  pupils. 

Young  Ladies’  Institute,  E.  Sixth  Street, 
near  Broadway,  also  branch  Institute, 
Grandin  Road,  East  Walnut  Hills. 

Academy  of  Notre  Dame,  Court  and 
Mound  Streets. 

Boarding  School,  Reading,  Ohio. 


ST.  XAVIER’S  ACADEMY, 

CHICAGO,  ILL. 

Conducted,  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy. 

By  its  charter,  obtained  February  27, 1Y47, 
Saint  Xavier's  Academy  enjoys  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  first  institu- 
tions of  the  country. 


St.  Mary’s  Academy, 

ALEXANDRIA,  V A. 

BOARDING  AND  DAY  SCHOOL  FOR  YOUNG 
LADIES  AND  LITTLE  GIRLS. 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

FOUNDED  IN  1869. 

A thorough  Academic  Course  is  given. 
Music,  Drawing,  Painting  and  Needle  Work 
receive  special  attention.  Send  for  Prospectus. 


Mount  St.  Agnes’  Academy, 

MT.  WASHINGTON. 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy. 

The  academic  year  commences  on  the  first 
Monday  in  September.  For  catalogue,  ap- 
ply at  the  Academy,  Mt.  Washington,  Bal- 
timore county,  Md.  N.  C.  R.  R. 


St.  hoais’  Academy, 

OSWEGO,  N.  Y., 

Conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Ann. 


For  further  information  address 

THE  MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


Academy  of  the  Holy  Angels, 

Porter  Ave.,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

This  Boarding  School  for  young  ladies,  situated  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  lakes,  offers  excep- 
tional advantages  in  point  of  locality. 

The  course  of  study  is  systematic  and  thorough, 
embracing  every  branch  of  a refined  and  useful 
education,  including  French  Discipline,  mild  and 
firm.  Special  attention  paid  to  physical  comfort  as 
well  as  to  moral  training.  For  particulars,  address 
MOTHER  SUPERIOR. 


St  JIary’s  Dominican  Academy 

St.  Charles  Ave.,  corner  Broadway, 

NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. 

This  Academy,  chartered  by  the  State 
of  Louisiana,  offers  every  facility  for  a 
thorough  education. 

Board  and  Tuition,  per  annum,  $200.  . 


DETROIT,  MICH 

Architect  of  St.  Mary’s  Hospital,  St.  Vin- 
eent’sOrplian  Asylum,  St.  Joseph’s  Retreat, 
Dearborn,  House  of  the  Little  Sisters  of  the 
Poor,  Detroit  College,  etc. 

ALEXANDER  GAZIN, 

ARCHITECT, 

Room  36,  Essex  Building, 

161'7  Lawrence  Street, 

DENVER,  COLO. 

KRCHVttCt  OF 

Jesuit  College,  Denver,  Colo., 

Sacred  Heart  School,  Denver,  Colo. 

J.  I).  BOLAND, 
Mason,  Contractor#  Builder 

Public  Ulorks 

A SPECIALTY. 

Office:  No.  18  Crawford  Street, 

GRAND  RAPIDS,  MICH. 

F.  D.  K INSELL  A & CO. 

Artists  in  Stained  Glass. 

gkouuo.  buvu  cvn  gyass. 

85  Jackson  St.,  CHICAGO. 


Altars  and  Pulpits,  Baptismal  Fonts, 
Statues  in  Wood,  Stone  and 
Marble,  Etc. 

PLANS  AND  DRAWINGS  SENT  IF  REQUIRED. 

366  Division  St.,  Detroit,  Mich. 


MUNICH 

STAINED 

GLASS. 

Mayer  & Go. 

OF 

Mumcli  ana  London, 

124  W.  23d  SI., 

NEW  YORK. 

Designs  and  Esti- 
mates furnished  on 
application. 


ROBERT  KELSO 

Manufacturer  of  the 

KEYSTONE  WOVEN 
WIRE 

MATTRESS 

AND  ORNAMENTAL 

Iron  Bedsteads, 

For  Hospital,  Asylum  and  Family  Use. 

254  S.  Second  St,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Church 


Office  Furniture  Co. 

SOUTH  LYON,  MICH. 

Manufacturers  of 

CHURCH,  BANK,  STATE  AND 
COURT  HOUSE  FURNITURE, 
Also  manufacturer!  of 
HARDWOOD  INSIDE  FINISHINGS 

Correspondence  Solicited. 


CA  THOLIC  PUB LIC A TIONS 


xix 


$The  Works  of  §restes  d4.  SB  row  n- 
son,  collected  and  arranged  by 
iHenrtj  dF.  SBrownson,  SO  Wof 
umes,  8co.  Sloth,  $60;  dllalf 
morocco,  $100. 

This  edition  of  Dr.  Brownson’s  Works  contains  not  only  his  arti- 
cles which  appeared  in  Brownson' s Quarterly  Review,  but  also  those 
he  wrote  for  The  Democratic  Review,  The  Boston  Quarterly  Review, 
The  Catholic  World,  Ave  Maria,  and  The  American  Catholic  Quar- 
terly Review,  as  well  as  his  New  Views : The  Mediatorial  Life  of 
Jesus;  Charles  L/wood;  The  Convert;  The  Spirit  Rapper;  Liberalism 
and  the  Church;  The  American  Republic,  etc. 

The  various  writings  are  arranged  in  such  order  as  to  enable  the 
reader  to  understand  and  appreciate  the  author’s  views  more  com- 
pletely and  correctly  than  when  read  out  of  their  proper  connection 
as  first  published;  and  they  are  given  with  all  the  corrections  and 
alterations  made  by  Dr.  Brownson  after  their  publication. 

Address 

HENRY  F.  BROWNSON, 

25  Seitz  Building,  Detroit,  Mich. 


THE  NEW  PRAYER-BOOK 

ORDERED  BY  THE  THIRD  PLENARY  COUNCIL  OF  BALTIMORE. 


We  have  lately  published  The  New  Prayer-Book  recommended  by  the 
late  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore,  entitled: 

Mannal  of  Prayers  for  the  Use  of  the  Catholic  Laity. 

Prepared  and  published  by  order  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Ba'ti- 


more.  This  book  contains  about  800  pages  of  matter,  and  is  printed  on  the 

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CONTENTS. 

The  Abbey  and  Round  Tower;  Swords,  Ireland — Illustration.  The 
African  Slave  Trade.  Astronomical  Calculations.  Beethoven — Portrait. 
The  Boromean  Tribute.  Bruce's  Castle — Illustration.  Calendars.  Catholic 
Papers  in  the  United  States.  Catholic  University,  Washington — Illustration. 
Monsignor  Corcoran — Portrait.  The  Cure  d'Ars  of  New  York — Portrait. 
Father  Damien — Two  Portraits.  Days  of  Obligation,  etc.  Donatello — 
Portrait.  Dunbrody  Abbey,  Ireland — Illustration.  The  Friar's  Ruby — Two 
Illustrations.  Claude-Ferdinand  Gaillard — Portrait.  The  Very'Rev.  I.  T. 
Hecker,  C.  S.  P. — Portrait.  Patrick  Valentine  Hickey — Portrait.  Hierarchy 
of  the  United  States.  Holyrood  Abbey,  Scotland — Illustration.  Hue  and 
Gabet,  Missionaries  in  China,  Tartary  and  Thibet — Two  Illustrations.  Inno- 
cent III,  Pope — Portrait.  The  Irish- American  Element  in  the  Union  Army. 
The  Irish  in  the  American  Revolution.  Just  So.  Kelso  Abbey,  Scotland — 
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trait. Kathleen  O’Meara — Portrait.  The  New  Prayer  Book.  The  Race  of 
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XX 


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(Sc  CO. 


PELOUBET  REED-PIPE  ORGAN 

Is  a recent  invention  combining  the  power  and  resonance  of  the 
Pipe  with  the  compact  body  and  moderate  price  of  the 


It  fills  the  void  hitherto  existing  between  these  two  classes  of  instruments, 
and  is  endorsed  by  many  of  the  best  professional  players,  as  being  the  best 
instrument  yet  made  for  Small  Churches  and  Halls.  New  illustrated 
catalogue  giving  complete  descriptions,  etc.,  mailed  free. 


Piano  Manufacturers, 


AUBURN, 

NEW  YORK,  U.  S.  A. 

The  only  piano  manufactured  with  the  ordinary  tuning-pin 
fastened  in  the  full  iron  plate,  thus  removing  the  entire  strain 
of  the  strings  from  any  wooden  part.  This  causes  the  instru- 
ment to  keep  in  tune  better  than  any  made  in  the  ordinary 
way,  besides  increasing  its  durability. 

No  other  piano  is  so  well  adapted  to  any  climate,  hot  or  cold, 
damp  or  dry. 


Ai  Hi  Andrews& 


XXXXXXXXXXXX 


SALESROOMS: 

State  & Monroe 
Streets, 

CHICAGO. 


DEALERS  IN 


MAHUFACTORY : 

211-217 
S.  Canal  Street, 

CHICAGO. 


Pianos,  Organs,  Band  and  Orchestral  Instruments, 


SHEET  MUSIC,  MUSIC  BOOKS, 

AND 

MUSICAL.  SUPPLIES  OF  EVERY  DESCRIPTION. 

It  requires  Twenty-one  different  catalogues  to  fully  describe  their 
great  stock. 

Correspondents  are  invited  to  make  known  their  wants,  and  catalogues 
will  at  once  be  sent  them. 


195  Wabash  Ave.,  Chicago,  III. 

LARGEST  MANUFACTURERS  OF 

School  Furniture 

65  STYLES  OF 

GLiOBES. 

NEW  "TRIUMPH** 

School  Desks. 

Andrews’  Celebrated 

DUSTLESS 

Erasers 

ALPHA  CRAYONS  (DUSTLESS)  and 
“ HYLOPLATE  BLACKBOARD,” 

Adopted  by  the  City  of  Chicago, 

THE  BEST  AND  CHEAPEST  IN  EXISTENCE. 
MADE  EXCLUSIVELY  BY  US  AND 
FULLY  WARRANTED. 


I am  after  the  R351.Ii  trade  of  the  United 
States.  Farm,  Church  and  School  n r I I O 
guaranteed.  Also  Well  Pumps,  D L LLo 
General  Machinery,  Iron  Pipe,  Fittings, 
Brass  Goods,  Laundry  Machinery,  Coal  Oil 
Engines,  Advance  Threshers,  Chemical  Fire 
Engines,  Fire  Extinguishers,  the  best. 
Prices  and  goods  g-uaranteed.  For  par- 
ticulars address 

Z.  T.  WRICHT,  Portland,  Oregon. 


XXXXXXXXXXXX 


MISCELLANEOUS  ADVERTISEMENTS. 


XXV 


Manufacturers  of  GRAND,  UPRIGHT  AND  SQUARE 

■a — ^PIANO-FORTES^— ^ 


For  over  Fifty  Years  before 
the  public,  these  instru- 
ments have,  by  their 
excellence,  at- 
tained an  un purchased 
pre-eminence,  which  es- 
tablishes them  as  unequaled  in 

TONE,  TOUCH, 
WORKMANSHIP 
and  DURABILITY. 


EVERY  INSTRUMENT 

FULLY  WARRANTED 


FOR  FIVE  YEARS. 


WAREROOMS: 

BALTIMORE, 

22  and  24  E.  BALTIMORE  ST. 

WASHINGTON, 

817  PENNSYLVANIA  AVE. 

New  yorK, 

148  FIFTH  AVE.,  near  20TH  ST. 


LOUIS  H.  EVERTS.  President  EDWARD  A.  EVERTS,  Seo<y  a Trees. 

THE 


I!1?  COLD  BLAST  FCATHSR  CO. 


Gold  Blast  feather  Go. 

MANUFACTURERS  OF 

BEDDIHG 

56  TO  66  WEST  VAN  BUREN  STREET, 

CHICAGO. 


For  some  time  past  we  have  enjoyed  a large  patronage  from  our 
Catholic  institutions  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  for  which  we  are 
grateful.  We  may  say  that  this  class  of  work  has  become  a specialty 
with  us. 

With  unsurpassed  facilities,  a very  large  stock  to  select  from,  skilled 
labor,  large  experience,  and  never  ceasing  vigilance,  we  feel  justified  in 
believing  we  can  manufacture  everything  in  the  Bedding  line,  not  only 
wisely  and  well,  but  at  prices  which  can  hardly  be  duplicated.  We 
guarantee  superiority  of  quality,  and  if  desired  will  be  pleased  to  fur- 
nish ample  references,  not  only  as  to  quality  of  our  goods,  but  the  char- 
acter of  our  house  as  well. 

We  have  recently  issued  an  illustrated  catalogue  of  fifty  pages, 
which  we  cheerfully  mail  upon  application.  May  we  seud  you  one? 

Very  respectfully, 


Specialties: 


Feather* 

Piiloms 

mattresses 

OF  ALL  KINDS. 


Guaranteed  free  from  odor,  dust  and  quills, 
aud  in  perfect  condition,  made  up  in  the 
best  ticking  of  auy  desired  weight  or  size. 

Curled  Hair  Mattresses  made  aud  sold  on  honor. 


WOVEN  wire  mattresses, 
SPRING  BEDS,  cots. 


Comforters 

Heeherehe 
Douun  Goods 


Of  our  own  manufacture.  Our  line  includes 
thirty  distinct  grades  with  corresponding  prices. 

Consisting  of  Plain  and  Figured  Satin  and  Plain 
and  Figured  Satteen  Quilts,  Japanese  Hand 
T'.mhrnidprpil  Snfa,  Pillows,  etc.,  etc. 


HOSPITAL  AND  ASYLlJM 


THE  COLD  BLAST  FEATHER  CO. 


BEDS. 


XXVI 


MISCELLANEO  US  AD  VER  TISEMENTS. 


SILVERSMITHS 


ECCLESIASTICAL  DEPARTMENT, 


Broadway  and  Nineteenth  Streets 

NEW  YORK. 


Old  Silver  XfiJor\  Repaired  : 

< 

apd  KJefilded.  \ 


Photographs,  Designs  and  Estimates  on  application, 
for  all  kinds  of  Church  Metal  Work. 


rvw  w w w wv  vvv  vv  wvww  wwwvwwi 


CHALICES 

Ciboria,  Cruets, 

PULPITS, 

Crucifixes,  Monstrances,  Thuribles, 
Trowels,  Pyx,  Candlesticks, 
Railing,  Vases,  Sanctuary 
Lamps,  Tabernacles,  etc. 


FOUNDED  50  YEARS. 


pIANOs: 


ESTABLISHED  1840. 


WORLD  RENOWNED 

FOR 

Tone  and  Durability. 


Endorsed  by  Leading  Artists, 
and  preferred  by  them. 


o>~ 


OVER 


80,000  Now  in  Use. 


Extensively  Used  in  the  Leading 
Convents,  Academies  and 
other  Educational 
Institutions. 


WJUU3ROOMS  AA7)  OFFICES: 


1 10  Fifth  Ave.,  cor.  Sixteenth  St.,  New  York. 


SEiVrD  FOR  I 


/ 


M ' 


* 


( 


BX  HUGHES- 

1406 
• H85 


Bapst  Library 

Boston  College 
Chestnut  Hill,  Mass.  02167 


